Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
American, 1889-1975
Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri on April 15, 1889. Even as a boy, he was no stranger to the "art of the deal" or to the smoke-filled rooms in which such deals were often consummated. His grandfather had been Missouri's first United States Senator and served in Washington for thirty years. His father, Maecenas Benton, was United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri under Cleveland and served in the United States House of Representatives during the McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administrations. Benton's brother, Nat, was prosecutor for Greene County, Missouri, during the 1930s.
As soon as he could walk, Benton traveled with his father on political tours. There he learned the arts of chewing and smoking, and while the men were involved in their heated discussions, Benton delighted in finding new cream colored wallpaper on the staircase wall, at the age of six or seven, and drew in charcoal his first mural, a long multi-car freight train.
As soon as he was eighteen, even though his father wanted him to study law, Benton left for Chicago where he studied at the Art Institute during the years 1907 and 1908. He continued his studies in Paris, where he learned delicious wickedness, aesthetic and otherwise.
Once back home, he became the leader of the Regionalist School, the most theatrical and gifted of the 1930s muralists and as Harry Truman described him,"the best damned painter in America."
Detractors said that Benton was "a fascist, a communist, a racist and a bigot"; the ingenious structure, powerful use of modeling and scale and the high-colored humanity of the murals and easel paintings are retort enough. He was a dark, active dynamo, only 5 ft., 3 1/2 in. tall. He was outspoken, open, charmingly profane; he had a great mane of hair and a face the texture of oak bark. He wore rumpled corduroy and flannel, and walked with the unsteady swagger of a sailor just ashore. He poured a salwart drink, chewed on small black cigars and spat in the fire.
Benton was once described as the "churlish dean of regionalist art." If you listened to a variety of art authorities, you would find them equally divided between Harry Truman's assessment of Benton as "the best damned painter in America" and Hilton Kramer who proclaimed Benton "a failed artist."
The East Coast art establishment tended to regard Benton as memorable for one reason only: he was the teacher of Jackson Pollock.
Benton was married in 1922 to Rita, a gregarious Italian lady, and they had a daughter and a son. At the height of his fame in the 1940s, Benton bungled the buy-out he was offered by Walt Disney and went his own way, completing his last mural in 1975 in acrylics the year of his death.
He died in 1975.to
1
1
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
19
267
171
115
88
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
Artist: Thomas Hart Benton
Self Portrait (~24% OFF LIST PRICE, Midwestern Art, American Painter, Modern)
By Thomas Hart Benton
Located in Kansas City, MO
Thomas Hart Benton
Self Portrait
1972
Lithograph
Image Size: 19.5 x 13.75 inches
Matted Size: 28.5 x 22.25 inches
Edition: 300
Signed by hand, lower right
COA provided
Ref.: Fath, 84...
Category
1970s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
The Hymn Singer
By Thomas Hart Benton
Located in Missouri, MO
Signed in Pencil Lower Right
Ed. 500
Circulated by Twayne Publishers, New York City
Image Size: 16 x 12 3/8
Framed Size: 24 1/4 x 20 1/2 inches
The legendary actor actor and musici...
Category
1950s American Realist Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
Related Items
Original
The U. S. Marines Want You
vintage military recruiting poster
Located in Spokane, WA
Original vintage poster: The U.S. Marines Want You. This military vintage poster is archival linen-backed and in fine condition, ready to frame. There is no date, artist, or printer'...
Category
1910s American Realist Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$2,250
H 28 in W 21.75 in D 0.05 in
Jean Cocteau - Europe
s Diversity - Original Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Original Lithograph by Jean Cocteau
Title: Europe's Diversity
Signed in the plate
Dimensions: 33 x 46 cm
Edition: 200
Luxury print edition from the portfolio of Sciaky
1961
Jean Coc...
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,544
H 13 in W 18.12 in D 0.04 in
Jean Cocteau - He ! He! Toro - Original Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Original Lithograph by Jean Cocteau
Title: He ! He! Toro
1961
Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm
Lithograph made for the portfolio "Gitans et Corridas" published by Société de Diffusion Artistiq...
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,425
H 14.97 in W 11.03 in D 0.04 in
after Henri Matisse, "Sitting Blue Nude"
By Henri Matisse
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Lithograph after Henri Matisse - Sitting Blue Nude
Artist : after Henri MATISSE
Edition of 200
76 x 56 cm
With stamp of the Succession Matisse
References : Artvalue - Succession Ma...
Category
1950s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Jean Cocteau - White Book - Original Handcolored Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Jean Cocteau
White Book - Autobiography about Cocteau's discovery of his homosexuality. The book was first published anonymously and created a scandal.
Original Handcolored Lithograp...
Category
1930s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,425
H 11.19 in W 8.98 in D 0.04 in
Jean Cocteau - The Elegant Toreador - Original Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Original Lithograph by Jean Cocteau
Title: The Elegant Toreador
1961
Dimensions: 28 x 38 cm
Lithograph made for the portfolio "Gitans et Corridas" published by Société de D...
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$950
H 11.03 in W 14.97 in D 0.04 in
Jean Dubuffet - original lithograph from XXe Siecle magazine
By Jean Dubuffet
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Jean Dubuffet - Original Lithograph from XXe Siecle magazine
1958
Dimensions: 32 x 25 cm
Edition: G. di San Lazzaro.
Unsigned and unumbered as issued
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$2,850
H 12.6 in W 9.85 in D 0.04 in
Leonor Fini - Red-Hair - Original Lithograph
By Leonor Fini
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Leonor Fini - Red-Hair - Original Lithograph
The Flowers of Evil
1964
Conditions: excellent
Edition: 500
Dimensions: 46 x 34 cm
Editions: Le Cercle du Livre Précieux, Paris
Unsigne...
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Jean Cocteau - Marine Mountains - Original Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Jean Cocteau - Marine Mountains - Original Lithograph
Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm
Edition: 200
In Rives
From: COCTEAU. — VERDET (André). Montagnes marines. S. l. (Paris), Les Messagers du...
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$1,900
H 14.97 in W 11.03 in D 0.04 in
Jean Cocteau - Marine Mountains - Original Lithograph
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Jean Cocteau - Marine Mountains - Original Lithograph
Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm
Edition: 200
In Rives
From: COCTEAU. — VERDET (André). Montagnes marines. S. l. (Paris), Les Messagers du...
Category
1960s Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$2,375
H 22.05 in W 14.97 in D 0.04 in
The Jewish Welfare Board original 1918 vintage World War 1 antique poster
By Sidney Riesenberg
Located in Spokane, WA
The Jewish Welfare Board. Original World 1 vintage poster, very good condition; archival linen-backed and ready to frame. Printer: Alco-Gravure, Inc., N. Y. There is a tiny ch...
Category
1940s American Realist Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$899
H 32.75 in W 19.75 in D 0.01 in
Original 1918 Tell That To The Marines vintage World War 1 poster linen backed
By James Montgomery Flagg
Located in Spokane, WA
Original WWI James Montgomery Flagg Poster — “Tell That to the Marines!” (1918) — Rare Vintage Patriotic Artwork—archival linen backing and ready to frame. The poster edge was trimmed to 38.5 x 27.5 inches. Without the trim, the poster would grade as excellent (grade A), but with the trim, it is listed as B+.
This is a rare and original World War I propaganda poster created by renowned American artist James Montgomery Flagg, famous for the iconic “I Want YOU for U.S. Army” Uncle Sam poster...
Category
1910s American Realist Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$2,350
H 38.5 in W 27.5 in D 0.3 in
Previously Available Items
Aaron (dignified portrait of a elderly black man from Kansas City, MO.)
By Thomas Hart Benton
Located in New Orleans, LA
In this powerfully silent portrait, American Regionalist artist Thomas Hart Benton captures the dignity of an old black man gazing downward through a l...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Aaron
By Thomas Hart Benton
Located in Denver, CO
Housed in a custom frame with all archival materials; framed dimensions measure 19.75 x 16.5 inches. This work was circulated by Associated American Artists, New York City, 1941.
...
Category
1940s Thomas Hart Benton Portrait Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Thomas Hart Benton portrait prints for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Thomas Hart Benton portrait prints available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Thomas Hart Benton in lithograph and more. Not every interior allows for large Thomas Hart Benton portrait prints, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Jim Dine, Ben Shahn, and Carole Feuerman. Thomas Hart Benton portrait prints prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $5,000 and tops out at $5,000, while the average work can sell for $5,000.