Thomas Hart Benton - The Muralist of the 1930's

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) is widely renowned as one of the most influential and well known muralist painters who contributed to the American Scene Painting Movement that took place during the 1930's/Depression Era. He is associated closely with Regionalism, a type of art that focuses on "reject[ing] modernism in favor of a naturalistic and representational style" (University of Virginia).

Benton's America Today mural (painted from 1930-31) that is now housed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicts scenes from American life starting in the glamourous Roaring Twenties through to the harsh realities of the working class in the 1930's. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/arts/thomas-hart-bentons-america-today-mural-at-the-met.html?_r=0

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2012.478b

Benton's The Indiana Murals were commissioned in 1932 to be displayed at the 1933 World's Fair. The purpose of the mural was to portray the history of Indiana (though the painting could probably be applied to most states), as well as to understand the working class that populated much of America and to illustrate their hardships through the decades up until the 30's.
http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/benton/

Regionalists like Benton became famous in the 30's due to the funding they received from federal art projects which were included in FDR's New Deals.

Works Cited

Rosenberg, Karen. "Brother, Can You Spare a Wall?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Oct. 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/arts/thomas-hart-bentons-america-today-mural-at-the-met.html?_r=0>.

"Thomas Hart Benton - Biography." Thomas Hart Benton - Biography. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~am482_04/am_scene/bentonbio.html>.

"Thomas Hart Benton: America Today: City Activities with Dance Hall (2012.478b". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000--. http://metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2012.478b (September 2014)

"The Indiana Murals of Thomas Hart Benton." The Indiana Murals of Thomas Hart Benton. Indiana University Art Museum,2003. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/benton/>.