This volume, which reproduces about two hundred of Thomas Hart Benton\u27s more than two thousand works, is a valuable scholarly study as well as a handsomely produced book about one of the modern West\u27s most significant artists. As such, it avoids the major limitation of many recent works on western art in which academic excellence is sacrificed to the larger-and less notable-aim of producing a visually appealing book with sales potential

Etulain, Richard W

English

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
1987 
Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)' and a 
Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons 
Richard W. Etulain 
University of New Mexico 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Etulain, Richard W., "Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)' and a Collection of His 
Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons" (1987). Great Plains Quarterly. 331. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/331 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
46 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1987 
Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical 
Essay and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, 
and Mural Cartoons. By Karal Ann Marling. 
Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 
1985. Illustrations, notes, index. 224 pp. 
$48.00. 
This volume, which reproduces about two 
hundred of Thomas Hart Benton's more than 
two thousand works, is a valuable scholarly 
study as well as a handsomely produced book 
about one of the modern West's most signifi-
cant artists. As such, it avoids the major 
limitation of many recent works on western art 
in which academic excellence is sacrificed to 
the larger-and less notable-aim of producing 
a visually appealing book with sales potential. 
Here, Karal Ann Marling, professor of art 
history at the University of Minnesota and 
author of previous books on American high-
way art and post office murals in the United 
States, provides a brief but very useful intro-
duction surveying the major contours of 
Benton's career and pointing out the impor-
tant features of his many drawings. Above all, 
Marling does a good job of showing how the 
artist repeatedly used his friends and experi-
ences as models for his "down home" drawings 
and paintings. "Seeing" before drawing was 
nearly always uppermost in Benton's mind. In 
addition, the author demonstrates the manner 
in which Benton utilized and re-utilized his 
individual, tentative drawings and sketches as 
parts of his later, larger murals. 
Marling then divides Benton's long and 
fruitful career into twenty chronological and 
thematic sections. In each of these parts she 
provides a few useful paragraphs of general 
discussion as well as specific comments on the 
half dozen or so drawings she employs to 
illustrate the period or technique she discusses. 
All of the drawings are reproduced in full color 
and thus catch the slightest nuance of color or 
pencil stroke. Particularly interesting are the 
sections that treat Benton's break with mod-
ernists and what he concluded was their 
excessive preoccupation with form and his 
conversion to regionalism in the late 1920s and 
thereafter. Marling also produces revealing 
commentaries on the production of Benton's 
most important mural projects. 
At the same time the author deals with the 
shortcomings of Benton that critics raised in 
the second half of his career-that his attempts 
to depict grassroots experiences were as much 
caricature and newspaper cartoon art as local 
realism, and that he tended to use the same 
character types and themes so often that they 
became stereotypes rather than fresh probings 
of his experiences and ideas. By discussing 
these criticisms Marling moves beyond the 
too-sympathetic and uncritical content and 
tone of much recent commentary on western 
American art. 
In short, this is the right kind of work on 
western artistic topics. Scholarly, well-orga-
nized and written, and attractively packaged, 
Tom Benton and His Drawings is a credit to the 
author, her subject, and the publisher. One 
wishes more scholars and publishers dealing 
with western art would aim at-and achieve-
the high goals of this volume. 
RICHARD W. ETULAIN 
Department of History 
University of New Mexico 
BOOK REVIEWS 47 


Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)\u27 and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1987 Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)' and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons Richard W. Etulain University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Etulain, Richard W., "Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)' and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons" (1987). Great Plains Quarterly. 331. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/331 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 46 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1987 Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essay and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons. By Karal Ann Marling. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1985. Illustrations, notes, index. 224 pp. $48.00. This volume, which reproduces about two hundred of Thomas Hart Benton's more than two thousand works, is a valuable scholarly study as well as a handsomely produced book about one of the modern West's most signifi-cant artists. As such, it avoids the major limitation of many recent works on western art in which academic excellence is sacrificed to the larger-and less notable-aim of producing a visually appealing book with sales potential. Here, Karal Ann Marling, professor of art history at the University of Minnesota and author of previous books on American high-way art and post office murals in the United States, provides a brief but very useful intro-duction surveying the major contours of Benton's career and pointing out the impor-tant features of his many drawings. Above all, Marling does a good job of showing how the artist repeatedly used his friends and experi-ences as models for his "down home" drawings and paintings. "Seeing" before drawing was nearly always uppermost in Benton's mind. In addition, the author demonstrates the manner in which Benton utilized and re-utilized his individual, tentative drawings and sketches as parts of his later, larger murals. Marling then divides Benton's long and fruitful career into twenty chronological and thematic sections. In each of these parts she provides a few useful paragraphs of general discussion as well as specific comments on the half dozen or so drawings she employs to illustrate the period or technique she discusses. All of the drawings are reproduced in full color and thus catch the slightest nuance of color or pencil stroke. Particularly interesting are the sections that treat Benton's break with mod-ernists and what he concluded was their excessive preoccupation with form and his conversion to regionalism in the late 1920s and thereafter. Marling also produces revealing commentaries on the production of Benton's most important mural projects. At the same time the author deals with the shortcomings of Benton that critics raised in the second half of his career-that his attempts to depict grassroots experiences were as much caricature and newspaper cartoon art as local realism, and that he tended to use the same character types and themes so often that they became stereotypes rather than fresh probings of his experiences and ideas. By discussing these criticisms Marling moves beyond the too-sympathetic and uncritical content and tone of much recent commentary on western American art. In short, this is the right kind of work on western artistic topics. Scholarly, well-orga-nized and written, and attractively packaged, Tom Benton and His Drawings is a credit to the author, her subject, and the publisher. One wishes more scholars and publishers dealing with western art would aim at-and achieve-the high goals of this volume. RICHARD W. ETULAIN Department of History University of New Mexico BOOK REVIEWS 47 

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1330&amp;context=greatplainsquarterly

Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)\u27 and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons

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