Untitled (Study for "Achelous and Hercules" Mural) (recto); Untitled (Study for "Achelous and Hercules" Mural) (verso)

Artist Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889 - 1975)

Date1946

MediumGraphite on paper

DimensionsSheet: 10 5/8 x 14 inches (27 x 35.56 cm)

Credit LineGift of Richard Dale Rees in memory of his beloved wife Janet Lee Rees

Object number2010.67.4.A,B

Signedl.r.: Benton 46

On View

Not on view

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionRecto: Detailed preliminary compositional sketch for Achelous and Hercules mural (1947); multiple figures occupy an undulating rural landscape accented with farm buildings at upper left and corn shalks at upper right; shirtless man wrestles a bull by its horns left of center, while trio of figures sit on cornucopia spilling bounty at center and man toils with unidentifiable implement at lower right.

Verso: Study of woman's head, facing left with eyes closed and proper right hand under chin; face, neck, wavy hair, and hand with tapered fingers, long nails, and ring are described in greater detail than woman's attire, which is only summarily suggestedExhibition History

Exhibition History

Gallery Label

In 1947 Thomas Hart Benton painted a 22-foot mural for Harzfeld’s department store in downtown Kansas City. The mural, set in a rural landscape familiar to most Missourians, offers a modern adaptation of the myth of Hercules fighting Achelous. Each spring, the river god becomes a wild bull with horns ripping the earth. Hercules triumphs over Achelous, and his broken horn transforms into a horn of plenty.

Benton created many compositional drawings for his murals. In these two examples, we get a glimpse of how the rolling arcs and triangles of the early designs turned into the figures, animals and landscape elements of the final painting.

Provenance

Thomas Hart Benton;

Patricia George (fashion illustrator for Harzfeld's), Kansas City, Missouri, after 1949;

To estate of Patricia George, December 2009;

To Richard Rees, Overland Park, Kansas, December 2010 (Dirk Soulis Auctions, Lone Jack, MO, December 2010, lot 92);

To NAMA, December 2010.

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