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Lot Essay
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.
According to Dr. Henry Adams, "this painting clearly is associated with one of the two mural projects that Benton undertook in the early 1920s. The first of these projects was The American Historical Epic, which he conceived in 1919 and worked on for most of the 1920s, eventually completing three 'chapters,' two of which are now in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri). He also completed some full-scale paintings for this Epic for chapters which were never completed. The second was his The History of New York, a four-panel series (Private Collection) which he proposed for a space on the second floor of the New York Public Library, but for which he never received a commission. The figure in this design seems to relate most closely to the panel '1400: Aboriginal Days,' one of the New York Public Library design; but it's hard to rule out the possibility that it was intended for The American Historical Epic. The style and character of this design makes it clear that it relates to one of these two projects and was probably executed around 1927-28. The design is unusually complete and more completely worked out than many of Benton's studies, although so far as I know Benton never recreated this painting on a larger scale." (unpublished letter, dated April 9, 2017)
According to Dr. Henry Adams, "this painting clearly is associated with one of the two mural projects that Benton undertook in the early 1920s. The first of these projects was The American Historical Epic, which he conceived in 1919 and worked on for most of the 1920s, eventually completing three 'chapters,' two of which are now in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri). He also completed some full-scale paintings for this Epic for chapters which were never completed. The second was his The History of New York, a four-panel series (Private Collection) which he proposed for a space on the second floor of the New York Public Library, but for which he never received a commission. The figure in this design seems to relate most closely to the panel '1400: Aboriginal Days,' one of the New York Public Library design; but it's hard to rule out the possibility that it was intended for The American Historical Epic. The style and character of this design makes it clear that it relates to one of these two projects and was probably executed around 1927-28. The design is unusually complete and more completely worked out than many of Benton's studies, although so far as I know Benton never recreated this painting on a larger scale." (unpublished letter, dated April 9, 2017)