This is part four of a four-part post on the works of American 'Regionalist' artist Thomas Hart Benton. For biographical notes on Benton see part one.

US Navy Art Collection:
Benton was deeply moved by the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, and shortly thereafter he completed "The Year of Peril," a series of grim and powerful war paintings financed by Abbott Laboratories. In 1943 he collaborated with Georges Schreiber in producing the Abbott Collection of Submarine Paintings, a project largely executed aboard the American submarine Dorado, which was later lost in action with all hands.

Later in the war, classified as a "camoufleur," Benton had to draw camouflaged ships that came into Norfolk harbour. His work was required for several reasons: to ensure that U.S. ship painters were correctly applying the camouflage schemes, to aid in identifying U.S. ships that might later be lost, and to have records of the ship camouflage of other Allied navies. Benton later said that his work for the Navy "was the most important thing, so far, I had ever done for myself as an artist."

(not dated) Barroom pen & ink with brown wash

1942 WWII Shipping Out

1943 Down the Lower Mississippi pen & ink wash

1943 Score Another for the Subs oil on board

c1943 All Work pen & ink wash

c1943 Loading the LST pen & ink wash

c1943 Look Out Below pen & ink wash

c1943 Preliminary Shake Down, New Orleans pen & ink wash

c1943 Salt & Steel pen & ink wash

c1943 This Way In pen & ink wash

1944 She's Off watercolour

1944 Stow Her Away Mates pen & ink wash

1944 WWII Back Him Up

c1944 War Isn't All Mechanized pen & ink

c1944 Battle Stations Submerged ink wash

c1944 Bow Up pen & ink wash

c1944 Coffee and Chow pen & ink wash

c1944 Note Well pen & ink wash

c1944 On the Old Ohio pen & ink wash

c1944 (?) pen & ink wash

c1944 Slumber Deep watercolour

c1944 Stern Task pen & ink wash

c1944 This Way Out pen & ink wash

c1944 Up Periscope oil on canvas

c1944 Up the Hatch oil on pressboard

I've been meaning to get this up here for a while. With and without words because I think the text is really quite attractively done.
1920x1200
1920x1080 and a youtube sample after the break.
Read more �

This is part three of a four-part post on the works of American 'Regionalist' artist Thomas Hart Benton. For biographical notes see part one. During the 1930's Benton began to produce signed, limited edition lithographs which were sold at $5.00 each through the Associated American Artists galleries. He continued to make lithographs for the rest of his life. Part four will look at Benton's work during WWII.  
Note: sizes where given have been rounded up or down to the nearest whole centimetre:

1934 Minstrel Show 23 x 30 cm

1936 Huckleberry Finn 43 x 56 cm

1936 Jesse James 42 x 56 cm

1937 A Drink of Water 26 x 37 cm

1937 Going Home

1938 Approaching Storm

1938 Distress

1938 Edge of Town 23 x 28 cm

1938 Haystack 26 x 32 cm

1938 In the Ozarks 26 x 33 cm

1938 Rainy Day 22 x 34 cm

1938 The Poet 23 x 31 cm

1939 Departure of the Joads 33 x 47 cm

1939 Down the River (The Young Fisherman) 32 x 25 cm

1939 Frisky Day 20 x 30 cm

1939 Planting (Spring Plowing) 25 x 32 cm

1939 Prodigal Son 26 x 33 cm

1939 Shallow Creek 36 x 24 cm

c1940 (Scene) 24 x 32 cm

1941 Aaron 33 x 24 cm

1941 Slow Train Through Arkansas 25 x 32 cm

1942 The Race 23 x 34 cm

1943 Letter from Overseas 25 x 33 cm

1945 Island Hay 25 x 32 cm

1946 Gateside Conversation 25 x 35 cm

1967 Ten Pound Hammer 35 x 25 cm

1967 The Little Fisherman 36 x 25 cm

1969 Discussion 25 x 30 cm

1972 Forward Pass 46 x 63 cm