DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things: SITAR 6/28/26

Sunday, June 28, 2026

SITAR 6/28/26

Welcome to

SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography, the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration.

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

Thomas Hart Benton

(April 15, 1889-January 19, 1975)

Thomas was an American painter, muralist and printmaker. Along with Gran Wood and John Steuart Curry he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. He fluid sculptured figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the US. His work is strongly associated with the Midwestern US, the region in which he was born and called home for most of his life. He also studied in Paris and lived in N.Y. city for more than 20 years where he painted scores of work. For 50 years he summered on Martha's Vineyard and also painted scenes of the American South and West.

Some of his lithographs.

Instruction 1940

Spring Tryout 1943

Huck Finn 1936

Given his father's political career, Benton spent his childhood shuttling between Washington, D.C., and Missouri. His father sent him to Western Military Academy in 1905–06, hoping to shape him for a political career. Growing up in two different cultures, Benton rebelled against his father's plans. He wanted to develop his interest in art, which his mother supported. As a teenager, he worked as a cartoonist for the Joplin American newspaper, in Joplin, Missouri.

With his mother's encouragement, in 1907 Benton enrolled at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Two years later, he moved to Paris in 1909 to continue his art education at the Académie Julian. His mother supported him financially and emotionally to work at art until he married in his early 30s. His sister Mildred said, "My mother was a great power in his growing up

Paintings