Prodigal Son
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1939
MediumLithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall: 10 × 13 1/4 inches (25.4 × 33.66 cm)
Credit LineGift of Robert M. White II in honor of his father, L. Mitchell White
Object numberF97-2/26
Signedpencil lower right margin
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionTo the right is a dilapidated house on a hill. In the foregorund stands a man with his hand to his beard, the other holding a hat. Beside him is a suitcase and to his right is an animal skeleton. A car can be seen in the background.Gallery LabelWhile Benton occasionally used his art to report events, Prodigal Son, transcends facts yet still speaks to contemporary realities. Benton uses the lithograph’s title to evoke a biblical story, but the scene he depicts deviates from its telling in the New Testament. Instead of a warm welcome home, this anguished victim of the dustbowl and the economic depression of the 1930s is met by the ruins of his father’s house. He is greeted by bleached bones instead of the proverbial fatted calf.
Copyright© Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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