Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)

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 (unpublished letter, 2019)