Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
Lot 73

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)

Boy from Georgia

Closed22 May 2019

Price Realised

USD 187,500

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Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
Boy from Georgia
signed 'Benton' (lower right)
tempera on board
20 ¾ x 14 ¾ in. (52.7 x 37.5 cm.)
Painted circa 1928.

Private collection, Hungary.
[With]Woodshed Art Auctions, Franklin, Massachusetts.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Specialist note

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

A letter from Dr. Henry Adams accompanies this lot. According to Dr. Adams, the present work “is based on a series of sketches of African-American cotton pickers that Benton made in Georgia, probably during his cross-country sketching tour of 1928…[the painting shows] an African-American boy from the side with his hand on what could be a stump, but more likely is the top of a fence rail…It has the sweeping quality of rhythmically related forms that are characteristic of Benton’s style.” (unpublished letter, 2019)