This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Thomas Hart Benton Catalogue Raisonné Foundation. Committee Members: Dr. Henry Adams, Anthony Benton Gude, Andrew Thompson and Michael Owen.

Thomas Hart Benton’s The Hymn Singer portrays Burl Ives (1909–1995), the celebrated American folk singer and actor. Ives began as an itinerant singer and guitarist, collecting and performing traditional songs before achieving national recognition through his radio program The Wayfaring Stranger. His deep knowledge of American folk music made him a natural subject for Benton, whose own lifelong interest in vernacular music was central to both his artistic practice and his understanding of American culture.

The present composition originated with Ives’s 1950 visit to Benton in Kansas City. Ives, returning from Hollywood with a beard grown for a film role, sang a number of old Southern hymns for the artist. Benton later recalled, “He sang some old southern hymns which produced the idea for this print and a life size portrait: The latter still in my possession.” The composition was subsequently produced as a lithograph, while the present portrait remained with Benton.

Music occupied a significant place in Benton’s life beyond his art. He was an accomplished harmonica player, performed with friends and family, and released Saturday Night at Tom Benton’s in 1941, designing its album cover himself. His wife, Rita, played piano and guitar, while his children T. P. and Jessie were accomplished flautist and guitarist, respectively. Benton’s engagement with music continued to the end of his life: he died in 1975 while working on The Sources of Country Music, his monumental commission for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.