Name: Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
Brand: The Fish Hatchery, Neosho
Price: 42000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
The Fish Hatchery, Neosho
signed and dated 'Benton/'12' (lower right)--signed again (on the reverse)--inscribed with various notations (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
18¾ x 23¾ in. (47.6 x 60.3 cm.)
Painted in 1912.

The artist.
Laura Wise Bush, Waxahachie, Texas, aunt of the above.
William N. Bush, Burbank, California, son of the above.
By descent to the present owner.

M. Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton, New York, 1974, pp. 28, 30, pl. 9, illustrated (as Girl in Park).
H. Adams, Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, New York, 1989, p. 62, illustrated.
J. Wolff, Thomas Hart Benton: A Life, New York, 2012, p. 132.

Kansas City, Missouri, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Institute of Arts; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, April 16, 1989-July 22, 1990, no. 3, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

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.

Benton experimented with modern European painting styles after his return from Paris, using Impressionist brushstrokes and a Fauvist palette to create this romantic, early example. The reclining figure was likely the artist’s girlfriend at the time, posing on the grounds of the nation's first federal fish hatchery located about a half a mile from his Neosho, Missouri home.