As I am from Missouri, I perforce grew up with Benton's art, as he was born and raised there.
Ah, neat.
It's called A Social History of Missouri. Benton considered it one of his better works. Schoolchildren are shown it when they visit the Capitol and adore it; it's full of real people.
It was mentioned in the exhibit! The Huckleberry Finn panel may even have been reproduced; we saw at least one take on the story. I like the inclusion of Frankie and Johnny.
the Wikipedia article in the link includes the painting of Hercules wrestling Achelous, and I remember one of Hades and Persephone but I don't recall where it's held.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, apparently. I found a better image via BYU. Even aside from the pin-up-ness, I feel like it's unusual for depicting Persephone pre-katabasis as a voluptuous woman, not a flower-slender girl. I love her poppy-black hair and her pomegranate-red dress.
Benton hated museums; he saw them as places where art is embalmed & buried away from people.
I don't agree with him—museums are one of the ways I see art, since I can't afford to collect it—but I hope he would have liked this exhibit with its background music and film clips. It was not funereal.
He was a populist, and along with his virtues, applied the courage of his convictions to his bigotries.
That's a useful way of looking at it. Still not my thing. Dr. Seuss' wartime cartoons have the same effect on me.
no subject
Ah, neat.
It's called A Social History of Missouri. Benton considered it one of his better works. Schoolchildren are shown it when they visit the Capitol and adore it; it's full of real people.
It was mentioned in the exhibit! The Huckleberry Finn panel may even have been reproduced; we saw at least one take on the story. I like the inclusion of Frankie and Johnny.
the Wikipedia article in the link includes the painting of Hercules wrestling Achelous, and I remember one of Hades and Persephone but I don't recall where it's held.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, apparently. I found a better image via BYU. Even aside from the pin-up-ness, I feel like it's unusual for depicting Persephone pre-katabasis as a voluptuous woman, not a flower-slender girl. I love her poppy-black hair and her pomegranate-red dress.
Benton hated museums; he saw them as places where art is embalmed & buried away from people.
I don't agree with him—museums are one of the ways I see art, since I can't afford to collect it—but I hope he would have liked this exhibit with its background music and film clips. It was not funereal.
He was a populist, and along with his virtues, applied the courage of his convictions to his bigotries.
That's a useful way of looking at it. Still not my thing. Dr. Seuss' wartime cartoons have the same effect on me.