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  • Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Thomas Hart Benton, The Desert, 1956

    Thomas Hart Benton 1889-1975

    The Desert, 1956
    Tempera on paperboard
    21 x 28½ inches
    53.3 x 72.4 cm
    Signed and dated at lower left: Benton '56
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    Schoelkopf Gallery is the exclusive worldwide representative of the Thomas Hart Benton Trust. This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Thomas Hart Benton...
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    Schoelkopf Gallery is the exclusive worldwide representative of the Thomas Hart Benton Trust.



    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 Desert, painted in 1956, exemplifies his ability to capture the atmosphere of the American West. Benton's use of highly saturated colors in The Desert evokes the intensity of the desert sun, while his undulating forms create a dynamic, visually engaging composition. Rather than directly conveying the majesty of the West through sweeping mountain views, as traditionally seen in the nineteenth-century American tradition from artists such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and Albert Bierstadt, Benton's subtle approach blends two of his favored genres, still life, and landscape, to create a characteristically Western scene. While the background showcases the vast, open expanses typical of portrayals of the West, in the foreground, Benton presents a still-life arrangement of weathered logs, lichen-covered rocks, and an assortment of desert flora, including sagebrush, desert marigolds, and grasses. These elements are rendered in vibrant colors, contrasting against the red rock terrain.

    Painted following Benton’s 1951 trip to Arizona, The Desert showcases a marked shift in his artistic focus from the Midwest and South to the sweeping landscapes of the West. Rarely seen or exhibited, The Desert represents a highly finished painting from a period of Western paintings that seldom come to market. Many of Benton's notable works from this period are held in museum collections, such as Desert Still Life (1951) held in collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Open Country (1952) also at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Sheepherder (1957) held in the collection of the American Museum of Western Art, Denver, Colorado, and Trail Riders (1964-1965) at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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    Provenance

    The artist; to
    The Thomas Hart and Rita Piacenza Benton Testamentary Trusts

    Exhibitions

    Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, organized by the Mid-America Arts Alliance; Department of Parks and Recreation, St. Louis, Missouri; Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska; Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City; Wichita Art Center, Kansas; Spiva Art Center, Joplin, Missouri; Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Iowa; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Illinois; The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas; Springfield Art Museum, Missouri; Huntsville Museum of Art, Alabama; Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Tennessee; Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, Minnesota, Benton's Bentons: Selections from The Thomas Hart Benton and Rita P. Benton Trusts, July 13, 1980-June 26, 1983, p. 59, no. 25, illus. p. 69

    Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; Queens Museum, New York; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, Thomas Hart Benton: Chronicler of America's Folk Heritage, November 3, 1984–July 6, 1985, as tempera on paper, dated 1952

    Museo d’Arte Moderna della Citta di Lugano, Villa Malpensata, Lugano, Switzerland, Thomas Hart Benton, September 5–November 15, 1992, no. 68

    Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, October 18—December 6, 2024, no. 37

    Literature

    Rudy Chiappini, Thomas Hart Benton, Lugano, Switzerland: Museo d'Arte Moderna, 1992, no. 68, p. 171, as Desert, tempera on wood

    Schoelkopf Gallery and Lauren Kroiz, Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, New York: Schoelkopf Gallery, 2024, detail illus. on inside front cover and p. 1, p. 18, no. 37, illus. p. 54

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