Monday, July 22, 2013

Thomas Hart Benton Murals

Thomas Hart Benton is one of my favorite American painters. His oils have a very organic almost cartoony quality that is very rhythmic. When I found out that I could see some of his original murals at Indiana University, I took a trip there.  There is quite a bit of his artwork there. Inside the Auditorium are two very large murals that flank each other and two smaller works at the end. In Woodburn Hall, inside the lecture hall there are another two murals. Apparently there is even more work of his in the cinema – but there was a class going on – so I was unable to view those. It is worth another trip to view again. Perhaps we could organize a trip for several illustrators to go see them. The drive is about two and a half hours away but the work is free to view and it is well worth the trip. I can see Benton's influences in the art of Loren Long - especially the undulating landscapes. If Loren has not seen these murals - I would urge him to go. By the way I uploaded two other of his murals from Woodburn lecture hall to my blog:
http://uncommonartist.com/blog/



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6 comments:

  1. clipping pathJuly 23, 2013 at 3:50 AM

    I was hear about Thomas Hart Benton but i have not idea about his works. Please if possible to post his some painting !!

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  2. ChuckJuly 23, 2013 at 4:43 PM

    These are great, David —thanks for posting!
    It would be neat to do some research and come up with a traveler's guide to noteworthy murals (like these) throughout the US. (Assuming one doesn't already exist.)

    I'd be surprised if Loren doesn't know of them. He often credits TH Benton as a huge influence.

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  3. Christina WaldJuly 23, 2013 at 11:55 PM

    Thanks for posting these. I do want to check them out sometime. Let's get a group together!

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  4. DavidJuly 25, 2013 at 10:47 AM

    Chuck,
    That is a great idea, it would be a good thing to know. To expand on that idea - a site that was like a tourist guide to noteworthy pieces of art in museums around the world. I am sure someone will eventually do this - now is the time to do it before anyone else. You could then, maybe, sell the site to a travel site, like travelocity or Rick Steve's (he is really into art siteseeing).
    Christina,
    Yes lets get a group and go down - if we have a big group - we need to schedule our visit, but then we can get someone from the university to show us around and give a guided tour - it is still free.
    Dave

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  5. Photo RetouchingJune 30, 2019 at 2:37 AM

    Thank you for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adept Clipping PathNovember 13, 2021 at 2:58 AM

    Really a helpful post.

    Best Regards,

    Clipping Path Company

    ReplyDelete

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