Thomas Hart Benton and the Navy

Over the next two decades Benton became a star as both painter and muralist and helped establish a new art movement known as Regionalism. Along with fellow painters Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he rejected Cubism and other European trends in abstraction, depicting instead familiar stories from the American heartland in a seductive and lyrical style.

One of the first color covers of Time magazine featured Benton, a pugnacious, hard-drinking man of many talents. He was a dandy writer, and as a harmonica player, he was good enough to cut a record.

Benton was on a speaking tour when he learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and he secluded himself for six weeks to produce eight powerful—some would say disturbing—paintings for the war effort. The Year of Peril brought him to the attention of Abbott Laboratories, a Chicago pharmaceutical company that wound up underwriting Benton’s work throughout the war.

Abbott later donated many of Benton’s World War II era paintings to the United States Naval History and Heritage Command, which generously lent them for this exhibition.

Of special poignance here are submarine paintings from the USS Dorado (SS 248). Just weeks after Benton finished his work aboard the sub, it went down in action with all hands lost.

Thomas Hart Benton and the Navy will be on view May 19-Sept. 24, 2017. Admission is free.

BONUS CONTENT: Shown below is a 10-minute movie produced by Encyclopedia Britannica Films. The 1947 featurette focuses on the process Benton used for his famous murals.