Portrait of the Artist's Sister (Mildred)

Artist Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889 - 1975)

Date1913

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 48 1/2 × 27 1/2 inches (123.19 × 69.85 cm)
Framed: 58 1/4 × 37 1/4 inches (147.96 × 94.62 cm)

Credit LineGift of Lelon Constable in memory of Ann Constable

Object number2009.4

Signedl.r.: "Benton '13"

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionThis vertical painting features a portrait of a young woman with reddish-brown hair. her form filles much of the composition. Seated against a brown backdrop, she looks plainly out at the viewer. The sitter wears fashionable clothing--including a rich, black coat--jewelry and, in her right hand, she holds a floppy hat accented by a red flower.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Exhibition of works rejected from the 1913 National Academy of Design Exhibition.

Long-term loan to New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut.

Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., April 16–June 18, 1989; Detroit Institute of Arts, August 4–October 15, 1989; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 17, 1989–February 11, 1990; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, April 29–July 22, 1990., no. 5.

Bingham to Benton: The Midwest as Muse, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., February 5–July 31, 2005.

Gallery Label

Twenty-four-year-old Thomas Hart Benton painted this portrait of his sister Mildred while he was studying art in New York and she was attending Barnard College. Monumental but casual in appearance, the portrait showcases a fluid yet controlled technique similar to that used by leading New York artists of the day, such as George Bellows and John Sloan. Ably finessing her dark outfit in shades of black, Benton presented Mildred, complete with a floppy, flowered hat, as a fashion-conscious, youthful urbanite in pre-World War I America. Used as an illustration in Collier's magazine, this portrait earned the budding Missouri native his first widespread publicity.

Provenance

Thomas Hart Benton;

Mildred (Benton) Small (the artist's sister);

Judy Small (Mildred Small's granddaughter);

Lelon and Ann Constable, 1999.

Published References

Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 9, 26, 29 (repro.).

Henry Adams, Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, exh. cat. (New York: Knopf, 1989), 68 (repro.).

Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1989).

Gene Meyer, “Legacies are Transformative Force for Kansas City Arts,” KC Studio 7, no. 5 (September/October 2015) 94-95 (repro.).

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