Study for Father Hennepin at Niagara Falls

The present work is a study for Father Hennepin at Niagara Falls (1961, New York Power Authority), which currently hangs in Lewiston, New York above the escalator at the Niagara Power Vista Visitor Center. The mural depicts Father Louis Hennepin, his team of explorers and a group of Native Americans observing Niagara Falls. In 1678, Hennepin, along with fellow missionary Sieur de la Salle, traveled to the area and ultimately were the first Europeans to provide eye-witness accounts of the falls. In 1697, Hennepin published A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, which was translated from French to English a year later. He writes, “Betwixt the Lake Ontario and Erié there is a vast and prodigious Cadence of Water which falls down after a surprising and astonishing manner, insomuch that the Universe does not afford its Parallel.” In describing what are known today as the American and Horseshoe Falls, Hennepin continues, “This wonderful downfall is compounded of two great Cross-streams of Water, and two Falls...The Waters which fall from this vast height, do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous Noise, more terrible than that of Thunder; for when the Wind blows from off the South, their dismal roaring may be heard from above fifteen Leagues off.” (A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, London, 1698; reprinted by Henry Bonwicke, 1699, pp. 22-23).

In 1956, one of the three hydroelectric power stations along the Niagara River collapsed forcing an immediate replacement of the existing Schoellkopf system. Robert Moses, the renowned urban planner and head of the New York Power Authority, oversaw the massive new construction project, which took three years and was completed in 1961. Moses commissioned Benton to produce Father Hennepin at Niagara Falls for the visitor center of the hydroelectric project. The finished mural measures 7 by 20 feet. Moses also commissioned Benton to create two murals depicting Jacques Cartier’s expeditions along the Saint Lawrence River and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for the New York State Power Authority building in Massena, New York.

This work will be included in the forthcoming Thomas Hart Benton catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Thomas Hart Benton Catalogue Raisonné Foundation. Committee Members: Dr. Henry Adams, Jessie Benton, Anthony Benton Gude, Andrew Thompson and Michael Owen.