Desert Still Life
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1951
MediumTempera with oil on canvas mounted on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 27 1/8 × 35 3/8 inches (68.9 × 89.85 cm)
Framed: 34 1/2 × 42 3/4 inches (87.63 × 108.59 cm)
Framed: 34 1/2 × 42 3/4 inches (87.63 × 108.59 cm)
Credit LineBequest of the artist
Object numberF75-21/45
SignedSigned and dated lower right: Benton ’51
On View
Not on viewCollections
Gallery Label“You feel that you can keep moving forever without coming to an end. This is the physical effect of the West.” —Thomas Hart Benton
Desert Still Life captures the enduring myth of the American West’s boundless expanse in its long, low desert landscape. In the foreground, Thomas Hart Benton constructs a still life of weatherworn rocks, dusty pinecones and bleached cow bones. Benton often used still lifes to experiment with textures, patterns and colors. By grouping objects frequently seen in Hollywood Westerns and literature promoting tourism, Benton’s painting also engaged cinematic stereotypes about the region.
Thomas Hart Benton;
His gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1975.
Thomas Hart Benton, exh. cat. (Lawrence: University of Kansas
Museum of Art, 1958), unpaginated (as 1956); Thomas Hart Ben
ton: A Giant in American Art, exh. cat. (Tucson: University Art
Gallery, University of Arizona, 1962), unpaginated (as Desert Still
Life, Wyoming); Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New York:
Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 11, 224; Kathleen Patterson, “Nelson
Gallery in Benton Will,” Kansas City Times, 26 February 1975, 1B;
Kansas City Remembers: Thomas Hart Benton, 1889–1975, exh.
cat. (Kansas City, Mo.: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 1989),
unpaginated; Pete Szilagyi, American Statesman (Austin, Tex.),
[1990], clipping, NAMA curatorial fi les; NAMA 1991, 198; George
Grosz, Berlin–New York, exh. cat. (Berlin, Germany: Ars Nicolai,
1994), 119; Randall R. Griffey, “Bingham to Benton: The Midwest
as Muse,” American Art Review 17 (April 2005), 100–101.
Museum of Art, 1958), unpaginated (as 1956); Thomas Hart Ben
ton: A Giant in American Art, exh. cat. (Tucson: University Art
Gallery, University of Arizona, 1962), unpaginated (as Desert Still
Life, Wyoming); Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New York:
Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 11, 224; Kathleen Patterson, “Nelson
Gallery in Benton Will,” Kansas City Times, 26 February 1975, 1B;
Kansas City Remembers: Thomas Hart Benton, 1889–1975, exh.
cat. (Kansas City, Mo.: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 1989),
unpaginated; Pete Szilagyi, American Statesman (Austin, Tex.),
[1990], clipping, NAMA curatorial fi les; NAMA 1991, 198; George
Grosz, Berlin–New York, exh. cat. (Berlin, Germany: Ars Nicolai,
1994), 119; Randall R. Griffey, “Bingham to Benton: The Midwest
as Muse,” American Art Review 17 (April 2005), 100–101.
Copyright© Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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