Corn and Winter Wheat
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889–1975)
Date1945
Mediumoil and varnish glazes on fabric
Dimensionscanvas: 62.5 × 77.8 cm (24 5/8 × 30 5/8 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift from the Chapin and Mary Alexander Riley Collection
Object number1970.156
Label TextBorn into a Missouri family with strong political consciousness, Benton was known for his murals depicting the history and life of the American people. In the years following World War II, the social and political messages in Benton’s work gave way to lyrical views of rural life and folk culture from the Midwest and the South, typical American Regionalist subjects.
Dominated by strong, linear rhythms, this Midwestern landscape is typical of Benton’s oeuvre in the ‘40s. It was commissioned by Worcester art collectors Chapin and Mary Alexander Riley, who expressed their admiration for Benton’s recent “middle western outdoor scenes with lots of bright and clear color” in a letter to the artist.ProvenanceChapin and Mary Alexander Riley Collection, Worcester MAOn View
On viewCollections
