Thomas Hart Benton: "The Arts of Life in America" Mural

"Arts of the South" from "The Arts of Life in America" murals
by Thomas H. Benton

"With the completion of the New School mural, I made the final step into the third phase of my development, which was the application of my methods, by now thoroughly under control, to the scenes, behaviors, and mythologies of American life.

Mrs. Juliana Force, director of the Whitney Museum, who purchased a dozen or more of the drawings made for the New School mural, commissioned me to do a series of panels for the library of the Whitney. The theme I chose was 'The Arts of Life in America,' meaning by this the popular arts of the cities and countryside - the arts practiced by, or directed toward, people in general. 

Mrs. Force's commission stipulated that it be finished in September, which gave me about five months for its planning and execution. The improvement and curtailment of my planning methods was of great help in meeting this date. I painted this wholly in egg-tempera from drawings and pilot sketches in black and white paint, and I had it ready to unveil at the appointed date.

Critical reaction was even more adverse than those occasioned by the New School mural. Though I was becoming hardened to this kind of reception, some of it angered me. I was particularly offended when a group of artists - my fellow teachers at the Art Students League - wrote, signed and published a round-robin letter to one of the New York newspaper critics, applauding him for his condemnation of my work.

My responses, which grew with the criticisms, did not, of course, help to reduce them. But it certainly brought me to the general public's attention. A lot of people rose to my support, and while during the early days of the thirties, artists were everywhere depending on government doles, I was able to sustain myself in a moderate but sufficient fashion by sales of my paintings. My critics had done me the ultimate favor of providing me with a living."

To be continued

(Excerpts are from "An American in Art: A Professional and Technical Autobiography" by Thomas Hart Benton.)