Thomas Hart Benton

Benton was born in Neosho, Mo. on April 15, 1889; age of 16 he began his art training at the Art Institute of Chicago. His career started with a job with the Joplin American, sketching portraits of miners. In Paris (1908-11) he became a friend of the Synchromist Stanton Macdonald-Wright, and after his return to the USA he continued to paint in the Synchromist manner for some years. He exhibited in the Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters in 1916, but failed to win success working in an avant-garde style, he abandoned modernism around 1920 and gained fame as one of the leading exponents of Resionalism and the chief spokesman for the movement. He claimed the success enjoyed by himself, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood came from the fact that they symbolized esthetically what the majority of American had in mind-America itself. 1933 he was awarded Medal from the Architectural League of N. Y. and also received a Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects.

Benton died on January 19, 1975 in his studio

There is an historic site of Benton's home and studio in Kansas City, started in 1977.