Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
WE1-2125 (Kansas City)
Widely regarded as the leading Regionalist painter, Tom Benton was the first artist to have his picture (a self-portrait) on the cover of Time magazine. He was trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Académie Julian in Paris, where he was influenced by Cubism and its offshoots. He returned to the United States in 1912 and during World War I served in the navy as a camoufleur. After the war he repudiated modernism, moved to New York City, and began a teaching career at the Art Students League, where both Charles Pollock and his youngest brother Jackson were among his notable students. In 1935 Tom returned to his native Missouri and taught at the Kansas City Art Institute until 1941, after which he devoted himself full time to painting, printmaking, and mural commissions. During the 1930s Jackson spent summers at Tom’s summer home on Martha’s Vineyard and visited him once in Kansas City, and they kept in touch until Jackson’s death in 1956.