Finished Working Study for "The Seneca Discover the French"
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1956
MediumCasein and graphite over graphite on paper
DimensionsOverall: 28 7/8 × 22 7/8 inches (73.33 × 58.09 cm)
Credit LineBequest of the artist
Object numberF75-21/19
On View
Not on viewCollections
Exhibition HistoryGallery Label
This monochromatic study represents one of many steps in Thomas Hart Benton’s mural painting process. The highly refined composition is likely one of the final studies he made for his mural The Seneca Discover the French. Benton used this detailed study as a reference tool to translate the composition to a seven-by-six-foot mural for a building at the Robert Moses Power Dam (today the Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders Power Dam) in Massena, New York.
He relied on the proportions imposed by the study’s grid, which he also drew onto the wall when painting the final mural.
Thomas Hart Benton;
His gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1975.
Copyright© Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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