American Art
American Art
Property from the Collection of Senator William Benton, Sold by the Estate of Helen Boley
THOMAS HART BENTON | STUDY FROM NATURE (STUDY FOR 'THE WHITE HORSE BY THE GATE')
Auction Closed
September 17, 04:16 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Collection of Senator William Benton, Sold by the Estate of Helen Boley
THOMAS HART BENTON
1889 - 1975
STUDY FROM NATURE (STUDY FOR 'THE WHITE HORSE BY THE GATE')
signed Benton and dated 55 (lower right)
tempera en grisaille on paper
14 ½ by 21 ¾ inches
(36.8 by 55.2 cm)
This work will be included in the forthcoming 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.
Senator William Benton, New York and Southport, Connecticut, by 1970
Helen Boley, Madison, Wisconsin, 1973 (his daughter, by descent)
In the 1950s and 1960s, Thomas Hart Benton set out to explore the American West, traveling to the Great Plains, the Grand Tetons, and the Rocky Mountains. Benton referred to these later landscapes as “grand scenery,” all of which show the influence of the artist's longstanding relationship with cinema. These western travels inspired him to explore the visual vocabulary of popular Hollywood Westerns - the rich saturation and colorful palette he began to employ recall the bold tones of these Technicolor films. A study for The White Horse, the present work is likely a depiction of the expansive rugged landscape of Utah's ranchlands.