Audio Description: A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton by Jared Jennings
Press play and discover Jared Jennings' painting A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton. Hear a detailed description of the artwork, descriptions of the colors and forms in the painting, and how the artist made the work. (Closed captions available on video.)
A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton, Jared Jennings, 2023, Oil on Panel
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A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton by Jared Jennings is a 12 foot tall by 16 foot wide mural created with oil based exterior paint. The completed work is composed of 6 panels which have been seamlessly pieced together and framed by a simple, black frame. On October 17, 2023, it was installed on a dark brown brick wall that makes up the north side of Neosho's City Hall. The mural faces Main Street. There is a sidewalk and parking spaces located underneath the work.
The main focus of the mural is an older Thomas Hart Benton who is seen from the hips up in the center of the work. He is wearing an open dark green coat over a bright blue button down shirt - the collar unbuttoned. His hair is black and grey with several ear height tendrils of white locks swept back away from his forehead. His mustache is black streaked with white, revealing only his bottom lip pursed in concentration. He is gazing down and to his left as he works with a maquette (small model) of red-brown clay that he has formed into grass and a tree. The right side of his body is angled toward the left; his right arm bent at the elbow painting. Beside the clay model is an open cardboard tray filled with various black containers of paint with glimmers of light blue, orange, and dark green on the inner brims of some open jars. His right hand points down as he uses a thin yellow handled paint brush to glide down the tree which appears, in the work, as part of his world. The maquette of grass appears real at the base. The tree mostly appears lifelike, but is tinted reddish-brown in patches to show it was also formed in clay. It takes up the majority of the work's right side as it arches up and out of the view in the mural. Its green leaves branch out to the top middle of the mural. Beside the tree are other plants and behind it shadows that make it appear the woods continue thickly off canvas.
In the space between the tree and Benton, we see a dirt field that has been plowed in rows framed by green grass of rolling hills. In the field is a black horse galloping toward the mural's right - its hooves kicking up dirt, its mane and tail flying backward from its speed. A wooden post can be seen jutting out from the grass bordering the plowed field. The sky seen is a brilliant bright blue without clouds which carries us from the horse, between the canopy of the tree and the top of Benton's head, to the left side of the mural behind Benton's back: a green tree line framing a train.
The Southern Belle style train is seen following the slightly curved railroad track of wooden railroad ties and steel rails heading off the left side of the canvas. The exterior of the train has a streamline exterior shell painted in colors in horizontal sections: the top section bright red except where windows and the top of the coal bunker are located. Then two thirds of the remaining train body is bright yellow followed by a thick black line and a bright white section below. The headlight, marker lights, and wheels are pitch black - the lights with frosted, glass lenses - the footboard more of the bright yellow. A yellow frame number plate is under the engineer window. It has a white background and the number 75 in black. Our vision of the train narrows as it vanishes behind Benton's collar - a grey, shadowy rock face just seen above the collar and behind his head.
Jennings was inspired to become an artist after viewing Benton's murals at the Missouri State Capital in Jefferson City in the fifth grade. This was where he first saw Benton’s A Social History of the State of Missouri. He earned a Master’s Degree in Drawing from Fort Hays State University in 2021. The following year Jennings approached the Neosho Arts Council with the idea to create a mural to honor Benton.
Trains and horses are a common subject seen in Benton's works with the horse often seen racing the train. Benton had a lifelong interest in trains and even drew a train on the wall of his home as a small boy (early art).
In his autobiography An Artist in America Thomas Hart Benton wrote, "My first pictures were of railroad trains. Engines were the most impressive things that came into my childhood. To go down to the depot and see them come in, belching black smoke, with their big headlights shining and their bells ringing and their pistons clanking, gave me a feeling of stupendous drama, which I have not lost to this day. I scrawled crude representations of them over everything."
Jennings confirmed he included both in this mural symbolically. The dark horse speaks to Benton's estranged relationship to his father which sprang from his pursuit of an art career despite his family's hopes of a career in politics or law and to Benton's painting, Plowing it Under. The train pays homage to Benton’s lifelong interest in trains, references the train Benton traveled on for Neosho's Thomas Hart Benton Day celebration in 1962, and its number "75" is in reference to 1975, the year of Benton's death.
Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosho in 1889 and was an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. He was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States. Benton started his murals by drawing small abstract sketches to get a flow for the design down, then he sculpted a maquette to work out details, arrange the figures, and establish the lighting. Next he’d bring in models to pose for the figures while he sculpted a more detailed maquette and created gridded, comprehensive drawings. Then he’d scale up his drawings on the mural surface. He died in his Kansas City studio in 1975 while finishing a large mural for the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The main focus of the mural is an older Thomas Hart Benton who is seen from the hips up in the center of the work. He is wearing an open dark green coat over a bright blue button down shirt - the collar unbuttoned. His hair is black and grey with several ear height tendrils of white locks swept back away from his forehead. His mustache is black streaked with white, revealing only his bottom lip pursed in concentration. He is gazing down and to his left as he works with a maquette (small model) of red-brown clay that he has formed into grass and a tree. The right side of his body is angled toward the left; his right arm bent at the elbow painting. Beside the clay model is an open cardboard tray filled with various black containers of paint with glimmers of light blue, orange, and dark green on the inner brims of some open jars. His right hand points down as he uses a thin yellow handled paint brush to glide down the tree which appears, in the work, as part of his world. The maquette of grass appears real at the base. The tree mostly appears lifelike, but is tinted reddish-brown in patches to show it was also formed in clay. It takes up the majority of the work's right side as it arches up and out of the view in the mural. Its green leaves branch out to the top middle of the mural. Beside the tree are other plants and behind it shadows that make it appear the woods continue thickly off canvas.
In the space between the tree and Benton, we see a dirt field that has been plowed in rows framed by green grass of rolling hills. In the field is a black horse galloping toward the mural's right - its hooves kicking up dirt, its mane and tail flying backward from its speed. A wooden post can be seen jutting out from the grass bordering the plowed field. The sky seen is a brilliant bright blue without clouds which carries us from the horse, between the canopy of the tree and the top of Benton's head, to the left side of the mural behind Benton's back: a green tree line framing a train.
The Southern Belle style train is seen following the slightly curved railroad track of wooden railroad ties and steel rails heading off the left side of the canvas. The exterior of the train has a streamline exterior shell painted in colors in horizontal sections: the top section bright red except where windows and the top of the coal bunker are located. Then two thirds of the remaining train body is bright yellow followed by a thick black line and a bright white section below. The headlight, marker lights, and wheels are pitch black - the lights with frosted, glass lenses - the footboard more of the bright yellow. A yellow frame number plate is under the engineer window. It has a white background and the number 75 in black. Our vision of the train narrows as it vanishes behind Benton's collar - a grey, shadowy rock face just seen above the collar and behind his head.
Jennings was inspired to become an artist after viewing Benton's murals at the Missouri State Capital in Jefferson City in the fifth grade. This was where he first saw Benton’s A Social History of the State of Missouri. He earned a Master’s Degree in Drawing from Fort Hays State University in 2021. The following year Jennings approached the Neosho Arts Council with the idea to create a mural to honor Benton.
Trains and horses are a common subject seen in Benton's works with the horse often seen racing the train. Benton had a lifelong interest in trains and even drew a train on the wall of his home as a small boy (early art).
In his autobiography An Artist in America Thomas Hart Benton wrote, "My first pictures were of railroad trains. Engines were the most impressive things that came into my childhood. To go down to the depot and see them come in, belching black smoke, with their big headlights shining and their bells ringing and their pistons clanking, gave me a feeling of stupendous drama, which I have not lost to this day. I scrawled crude representations of them over everything."
Jennings confirmed he included both in this mural symbolically. The dark horse speaks to Benton's estranged relationship to his father which sprang from his pursuit of an art career despite his family's hopes of a career in politics or law and to Benton's painting, Plowing it Under. The train pays homage to Benton’s lifelong interest in trains, references the train Benton traveled on for Neosho's Thomas Hart Benton Day celebration in 1962, and its number "75" is in reference to 1975, the year of Benton's death.
Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosho in 1889 and was an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. He was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States. Benton started his murals by drawing small abstract sketches to get a flow for the design down, then he sculpted a maquette to work out details, arrange the figures, and establish the lighting. Next he’d bring in models to pose for the figures while he sculpted a more detailed maquette and created gridded, comprehensive drawings. Then he’d scale up his drawings on the mural surface. He died in his Kansas City studio in 1975 while finishing a large mural for the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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Mural Location
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Neosho City Hall
North exterior wall 203 E. Main St. Neosho, MO 64850 |
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Additional Content
Additional Photos
Jared Jennings painted A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton on panels at his home studio. The following are a selection of progress photos.
On October 17, 2023 the six panels that make up A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton were installed on the north wall of Neosho City Hall.
