Study for 'Butterfly Chaser'

Details

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
Study for 'Butterfly Chaser'
signed 'Benton' (upper right)
oil on board
8 x 5 ¾ in. (20.3 x 14.6 cm.)
Painted circa 1951.

Provenance

Private collection, New England, 1960.
Skinner, Bolton, Massachusetts, 10 May 1991, lot 138.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.

Exhibited

New York, Vance Jordan Fine Art; Norfolk, Virginia, Chrysler Museum of Art, Power and Whimsy: A Private Collection of American Modernism, April 28-September 7, 2003, pp. 9, 18, 61-62, pl. 7, illustrated.

Sale Room Notice

Please note the provenance for this lot has been revised:
Private collection, New England, 1960.
Skinner, Bolton, Massachusetts, 10 May 1991, lot 138.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.

Brought to you by

William Haydock

whaydock@christies.com + 1 212 636 2140

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.

Depicting a landscape in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, the present work served as a study for the finished oil painting, Butterfly Chaser (1951, Jessie Benton Collection), which Benton gave to his daughter Jessie Benton on her twelfth birthday. Henry Adams writes, "In keeping with the increasingly private character of his art, Benton also produced a number of paintings of his intimate surroundings...Whenever his daughter, Jessie, had a birthday, he gave her a canvas painted for the occasion...Two of his finest paintings were executed for this 'birthday' series: Butterfly Chaser of 1951, which shows Jessie chasing a butterfly in the distance, and Jessie with Guitar of 1956." (Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, 1989, p. 329)

More from American Art

View All