Benton 75th Anniversary-related Exhibitions
March 4–May 31, 2008
Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair—“Century of Progress”
Monroe County History Center
202 E. Sixth Street, Bloomington
For museum hours and additional information, see www.monroehistory.org
March 18–May 18, 2008
Shallow Creek: Thomas Hart Benton and American Waterways
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Images of waterways figure prominently in the art of Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975). His depictions of rivers, streams, gullies, and creeks form a subgenre of American landscape painting, inviting us to rethink the artistic meaning and historical legacy of even the narrowest inlets. Among Benton’s most significant representations of this subject matter is a body of work from 1938-42 depicting intimate coves and creeks. The painting Shallow Creek (1938) is a lynchpin of this series and the focus of this traveling exhibition—organized by the Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University. Over thirty additional paintings, drawings, prints, and illustrations by Benton shed further light on the artist’s fascination with water and the regional characters associated with its activities.
Funding for the Bloomington venue is provided by the Lucienne M. Glaubinger Endowed Fund for the Curator of Works on Paper and IU Art Museum’s Arc Fund.
March 18–May 18, 2008
Homespun America: Regionalist Prints from the Indiana University Art Museum’s Collection
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Special Exhibitions Gallery
This complementary exhibition highlights a small selection of prints from the museum’s large holding of works by artists associated with the regionalist aesthetic, which emphasized a modern realist style and populist, folksy subject matter. Special attention is paid to the Regionalist “triumvirate”: Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and John Steuart Curry—whose works helped to popularize this quintessential America style during the 1930s and 40s.
March 18–May 18, 2008
Rare Oil Study for Thomas Hart Benton’s Indiana Murals
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Gallery of the Art of the Western World, first floor
Doris Steinmetz Kellett Endowed Gallery of Twentieth-Century Art
This large color study—on loan from the Palmer Museum of Art at The Pennsylvania State University—represents a final stage in Thomas Hart Benton’s laborious planning process for the monumental Indiana Murals at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Like the final paintings (now installed in the IU Auditorium), the study shows two narrative panels (Industrial Panels 8 and 9) painted together as a single unit. The painting will be on view with related preparatory sketches from the Indiana University Art Museum’s collection.
Support for this loan has been provided by the College Arts and Humanities Institute (CAHI) and the American Studies Program.
April 1–30, 2008
Thomas Hart Benton—the IU Connection
Lilly Library
Indiana University, Bloomington
April 21–May 18, 2008
Books on Thomas Hart Benton and Regionalism
Fine Arts Library Foyer
Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, Indiana University, Bloomington
April/May 2008
New Regionalism: Unsettled Realities
For locations and other details see: www.yourarthere.org/projects/benton/
At the center of Regionalist ideology is the search for truth through painting. In the Indiana Murals, Thomas Hart Benton sought to create a window into society, revealing both the progressive and the unflattering aspects of our collective past. Rather than shy from controversial subject matter, such as race relations and labor issues, Benton faced these themes head on, forcing his audience to address unsettling realities in American life.
Your Art Here—an Indiana-based, non-profit public art organization devoted to the display of art on billboards and other non-traditional public spaces—has commissioned Caleb Weintraub, Assistant Professor of Painting at Indiana University, to create a new work vested with Benton's confrontational spirit. This painting will be converted into a public artwork and displayed on billboards in several locations through the state of Indiana.
May 2–24, 2008
New Regionalism: The Life of Brian
Midwest Museum of Contemporary Art (MiCo)
Murphy Building, Fountain Square
1043 Virginia Avenue, 1st Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana
For more information see www.midwestcontemporary.org
This show explores the concept of Regionalism and raises the question: "Does a regional style and aesthetic still exist that is specific to Indiana and the Midwest?" Unlike 1930s Regionalism, which was primarily relegated to two-dimensional media, this new work by four Indianapolis artists named Brian (Brian McCutcheon, Brian Myers, Brian Presnell, and Brian Priest) includes video, sculpture, installation and other media.
Opening reception on May 2: 6:00–10:00 p.m.; Gallery Hours: Friday 5:00–7:00 p.m. and Saturday 1:00–4:00 p.m.
May 17–June 7, 2008
New Regionalism: Mondo Tondo Extravaganva
Uncle Freddy's Gallery
2635 Highway Avenue
Highland, Indiana
For more information and additional locations see www.unclefreddys.com.
Seventy-five years ago Thomas Hart Benton traveled over three thousand miles throughout the state of Indiana meeting its people and drawing their portraits. These sketches not only sharpened his sensitivity to their countenance and character, but also served as preparatory studies for his famed 1933 Indiana Murals. In the same spirit, six contemporary artists—Billy Pozzo, Martin Garcia, Gregg Hertzlieb, Patti Tobin-Davis, Jim McKern and Tom Torluemke—will create 100 hand-colored circular portraits of community members from Northwest Indiana.
The exhibition is organized in partnership with the Hammond Development Corporation and Ann Fritz, gallery director at IU-Northwest in Gary.
The “New Regionalism” series—three related exhibitions around the state of Indiana that explore contemporary interpretations of Benton’s work—is sponsored by the Efroymson Fund.
April 21 – July 31, 2008
Thomas Hart Benton's Murals Come to Indiana University
Indiana University Archives, Bloomington
Herman B Wells Library, Room E460
For more information: www.libraries.iub.edu/archives