Thomas Hart Benton, Study for "The Kentuckian", 1954

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Oil on board

15 x 10½ inches
38.1 x 26.7 cm

Signed at lower right: Benton

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...

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 Kentuckian stands at the intersection of art, cinema, and popular culture in mid-century America. Commissioned in 1953 by Norma Productions, a leading film production company, the painting was intended to promote their film, which starred well-known actor and producer Burt Lancaster. Admirers of Benton's work, Lancaster and his team extended an invitation to the artist to observe the film's production and read the script for inspiration. Set in 1820s Kentucky, the film chronicles the story of Elias "Big Eli" Wakefield, a frontiersman, and his son, "Little Eli," as they venture to Texas to start a new life, encountering a host of challenges along the way. Exploring themes of family, survival, and the pioneering ethos of the American frontier, Benton captures this archetypal frontiersman, clad in buckskins, leading his family westward toward a frontier village. Against the backdrop of a vibrant natural landscape, the figure of the Kentuckian dominates the composition, his confident stride accentuated by the dynamic diagonal positioning of the figures.

Benton's creative process involved an array of preparatory sketches, oils, and clay models before culminating in the final, large-scale oil painting. The present oil, a study for the larger painting, with its vibrant palette and characteristic undulating forms, epitomizes the artist's distinctive style. Unveiled at the film's premiere, the large-scale finished painting is currently in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California. It had remained in Burt Lancaster's collection until he donated it to the museum in 1978.

Benton's portrayal of Lancaster as a frontier hero left a lasting impact on American popular culture. In 1954, The Kentuckian was featured on a poster for the film declaring, “A GREAT AMERICAN ARTIST DEPICTS A GREAT AMERICAN MOTION PICTURE!” Later, in the 1970s, The Kentuckian was reproduced on the labels of bottles of Jim Beam whiskey, connecting Benton’s frontiersmen with whiskey as essential elements of the state’s identity. The 1990s saw a playful homage to The Kentuckian in season two of The Simpsons, the animated television series. Benton’s enduring portrayal of The Kentuckian continues to resonate, cementing its place among the icons of the American West.

Provenance

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

Exhibitions

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 The Kentuckian, c. 1950s
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; and the Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin,Thomas Hart Benton: American Epics and Hollywood, 2015-16
Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, October 18—December 6, 2024, no. 32

Literature

Austen Barron Bailly, "True West: Thomas Hart Benton and American Epics," in Austen Barron Bailly, ed., Thomas Hart Benton: American Epics and Hollywood, Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum and Munich, London, and New York: Prestel Verlag, 2015, pp. 39, 64 pl. 28 illus. in color, as Sketch for The Kentuckian, oil on Masonite panel

Schoelkopf Gallery and Lauren Kroiz, Thomas Hart Benton: Where Does the West Begin?, New York: Schoelkopf Gallery, 2024, no. 32, p. 51, illus., illus. on back cover

Artworks

Interests *

Thomas Hart Benton 1889-1975

Provenance

Exhibitions

Literature