Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton (1889 - 1975)

Thomas Hart Benton grew up in the Ozarks, leaving home at 17 to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and later in Paris at the Julien Academy. He taught at the Art Students League from 1926 to 1935. During this period, Benton traveled all over the U.S., sketching in the industrial centers, the South, the Far West, Texas and New Mexico. After 20 years in New York City, Benton left to return to Missouri as director of painting at the Kansas City Art Institute.