The Music Lesson
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1943
MediumLithograph
DimensionsOverall: 10 1/8 × 12 1/2 inches (25.73 × 31.75 cm)
Credit LineGift of Eleanor Halley
Object number76-21
On View
Not on viewCollections
Gallery LabelThe Music Lesson is an example of the contributions Benton made to chronicling American folk music traditions. This intimate, seemingly candid scene pays tribute to E. Gale Huntington, a noted folk singer on Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. Benton admired Huntington’s dedication to the preservation of the area’s musical history, showing him engaged in the crucial act of sharing that history with the next generation.
Benton had a passion for music. His home in Kansas City still contains hundreds of records, stacks of sheet music and scores he translated into notation for the harmonica.
no known provenance
Copyright© Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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