Open Country
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1952
MediumOil and tempera on canvas; mounted on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 27 1/4 × 35 1/4 inches (69.22 × 89.54 cm)
Framed: 36 7/8 × 44 7/8 inches (93.66 × 113.98 cm)
Framed: 36 7/8 × 44 7/8 inches (93.66 × 113.98 cm)
Credit LineBequest of David L. and Elise B. Sheffrey
Object numberF89-33
SignedSigned and dated lower right: Benton ’52
InscribedInscribed on panel verso: price $3500.00; “Open Country” Thomas H. Benton / Oil painting—Varnished with methyl methacrylate varnish
On View
Not on viewCollections
Exhibition HistoryPlain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie, University of Iowa Museum of Art, August 18, 1996 - October 20 1996.
A Century of the American Dream, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, November 23, 2000 - January 28, 2001.
Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, February 5, 2005 - July 31, 2005.
American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood, The Peabody Essex Museum, June 6, 2015 - September 1, 2015.
In Benton's Open Country, a cowboy on horseback allows his horse to take a drink in the midst of a sprawling western landscape. A herd of cattle grazes peacefully in the distance. Man and animals appear dwarfed by their vast surroundings. Choked by weeds and in poor condition, the windmill and fence in the foreground show signs of age and neglect.
Open Country provides insight into Benton's mental state in the early 1950s, reflecting his recognition that he was the sole surviving leader of the Regionalist movement. The deaths of Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, in 1942 and 1946 respectively, combined with the emergence of new, abstract styles in American art, fostered the perception that Regionalism had passed its prime.
Open Country provides insight into Benton's mental state in the early 1950s, reflecting his recognition that he was the sole surviving leader of the Regionalist movement. The deaths of Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, in 1942 and 1946 respectively, combined with the emergence of new, abstract styles in American art, fostered the perception that Regionalism had passed its prime.
To David L. and Elise B. Sheffrey;
To NAMA, 1989.
4th Mid-American Annual, 1954, exh. cat. (Kansas City, Mo.: Mid-
America Artists Association, 1954), unpaginated; Thomas Hart
Benton, exh. cat. (Lawrence: University of Kansas Museum of Art,
1958), unpaginated; Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 11, 229; Erika Lee Doss, “Regionalists in Hollywood: Painting, Film, and Patronage, 1925–1945,”
Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1983, 247; NAMA 1991, 199;
“Images of the American Prairie,” American Artist 60 (October
1996), 61; Joni L. Kinsey, Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
Press, 1996), 160–61; A Century of the American Dream, exh. cat.
(Nagoya: Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, 2000), 53; Randall R.
Griffey, “Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse,” American
Art Review 17 (April 2005), 95, 98–99.
America Artists Association, 1954), unpaginated; Thomas Hart
Benton, exh. cat. (Lawrence: University of Kansas Museum of Art,
1958), unpaginated; Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New
York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 11, 229; Erika Lee Doss, “Regionalists in Hollywood: Painting, Film, and Patronage, 1925–1945,”
Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1983, 247; NAMA 1991, 199;
“Images of the American Prairie,” American Artist 60 (October
1996), 61; Joni L. Kinsey, Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
Press, 1996), 160–61; A Century of the American Dream, exh. cat.
(Nagoya: Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, 2000), 53; Randall R.
Griffey, “Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse,” American
Art Review 17 (April 2005), 95, 98–99.
Copyright© Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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