♪ TOM BENTON WAS A SMALL MAN WITH THE VIVACITY AND THE PUGNACIOUSNESS OF A BANTAM ROOSTER.
HE MADE GREAT USE OF THAT WONDERFUL MOUSTACHE OF HIS VERY SPARKLING EYES NEVER SAW HIM AT A LOSS FOR A WORD.
HE HAD A GREAT PERSONA OF THE HARD-DRINKING TOUGH GUY WHO HAPPENED TO BE AN ARTIST, YOU KNOW?
HIS PRIDE WAS TO BE ABLE TO DRINK WITH ANYBODY AND FIGHT WITH ANYBODY AND FUCK WITH ANYBODY, AND SO FORTH.
REAL HE-MAN.
THE SHEER PERVERSITY OF TOM BENTON IN TERMS OF HIS OWN CULTURE IS PRETTY WONDERFUL.
THE FACT THAT HE LIKES TO PUT PEOPLE ON; THE FACT THAT HE LIKES TO BE AN OUTRAGEOUS OLD CUSS; THAT HE LIKES TO RUB THEIR NOSE IN BARROOM NUDES; THE FACT THAT HE LIKES TO CHALLENGE THE MORALITY OF HIS OWN PERIOD IS A LOT OF FUN.
TOM BENTON LOOKED AT AMERICA LIKE NOBODY DID.
HE KNEW WHERE AMERICA WAS AND HE KNEW WHAT AMERICA WAS BECAUSE HE WENT OUT AND MIXED WITH THE PEOPLE SLEPT WITH THE PEOPLE, ATE WITH THE PEOPLE DREW THE PEOPLE, WON THEIR CONFIDENCE AND HE DIDN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HIGH SOCIETY.
NOW, THAT IRRITATED A LOT OF PEOPLE.
25 YEARS AGO ONE NEVER DREAMED THERE WOULD BE A REVIVAL OF BENTON.
ALL OF THAT-- THE WHOLE ATTITUDE TOWARD ART THAT'S EMBODIED IN HIS WORK, EMBODIED IN HIS WRITING EMBODIED IN HIS CAREER SEEMED SAFELY DEAD.
HE'S LOVED AS A PERSON AND HE'S HATED AS A PERSON AND THEN THEY TRANSFER THIS OVER TO HIS PAINTING.
THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, LOVE HIS PAINTING-- AND THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ART USUALLY.
AND THOSE WHO HATE HIM ARE THE PEOPLE IN THE PROFESSION BECAUSE HE'S MADE COMMENTS, PUBLIC COMMENTS STATEMENTS ABOUT THEM.
SO THEY HATE THE MAN.
THEREFORE THEY WON'T LOOK AT HIS WORK AND THEY HATE HIS WORK.
IT'S UNFORTUNATE.
Narrator: HE WAS A POLITICIAN'S SON WHO SCORNED POLITICS YET STRUGGLED ALL HIS LIFE TO BECOME A PUBLIC FIGURE.
HE WAS A SOPHISTICATE WHO PRETENDED TO BE SIMPLE; A REBEL WHO FLED FROM HIS MIDWESTERN PAST AND THEN CAME TO CELEBRATE IT IN HIS ART.
HE SHOWED HOW AN AMERICAN ARTIST COULD SUCCEED AND HOW HE COULD FAIL.
HIS PAINTINGS HANG IN MUSEUMS BUT HIS FRIENDS STILL CELEBRATE HIS BIRTHDAY EACH YEAR IN A KANSAS CITY SALOON.
THOMAS HART BENTON, WHO WILL BE 70 NEXT WEDNESDAY HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS AMERICA'S BEST-KNOWN CONTEMPORARY PAINTER WHO VIEWS HIS SUBJECT THROUGH THE EYES OF A SOCIAL HISTORIAN.
HE'S ALSO BEEN REFERRED TO AS RUGGED, OUTSPOKEN AND UNCONVENTIONAL.
MR. AND MRS. THOMAS HART BENTON LIVE IN THIS LARGE, NATIVE-STONE HOUSE IN THE SOUTHWEST SECTION OF KANSAS CITY.
GOOD EVENING, TOM.
GOOD EVENING, ED.
HOW ARE YOU?
PRETTY GOOD.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT YOUR BOYHOOD IN NEOSHO, MISSOURI?
SHOWS IN THE BARN, SWIMMING IN THE CREEKS RIDING HORSES, AND SO FORTH.
WELL, IT WAS KIND OF A COUNTRY JAKE'S LIFE.
IT WAS EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING.
YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER IT WITH SOME REGRETS.
MAYBE THE PROGRESS WE'VE HAD HAS WIPED ALL THAT OUT AND OTHER PEOPLE WON'T HAVE THE CHANCE TO REGRET IT BUT I REMEMBER IT, ANYHOW, WITH A PLEASURABLE REGRET.
Narrator: HE WAS BORN IN NEOSHO, MISSOURI, IN 1889 THE FIRST AND SHORTEST OF FOUR CHILDREN AND WAS NAMED FOR HIS GREAT-UNCLE SENATOR THOMAS HART BENTON.
HE WAS THE CHAMPION OF MANIFEST DESTINY MISSOURI'S FIRST SENATOR, A MAN WHO STOOD SIX FEET FOUR AND WHO WOUNDED ANDREW JACKSON IN A DUEL.
IT WAS A BIG NAME TO LIVE UP TO.
TOM WAS VERY PUGNACIOUS, EVEN AS A YOUNG PERSON.
HE WAS VERY SURE THAT HE WAS ALWAYS RIGHT AND HE WAS VERY TALKATIVE, AND AT MEALS MY FATHER WOULD SOMETIMES SEND HIM AWAY FROM THE TABLE BECAUSE HE INSISTED ON WHAT "I" THINK AND WHAT "I" DO AND WHAT "I" WILL DO AND IT WAS ALWAYS, AS MY FATHER SAID, "I, I, I."
AND MY FATHER CALLED HIM "BIG I."
Narrator: HIS FATHER, COLONEL MAECENAS BENTON WAS A COMBATIVE, HARD-DRINKING POLITICIAN WHO WAS FOUR TIMES ELECTED TO CONGRESS AS "THE LITTLE GIANT OF THE OZARKS."
T.H.
Benton: MY FATHER WAS A POLITICAL FIGURE IN THE STATE AND WHEN I WAS A KID HE USED TO TAKE ME ON HIS VARIOUS CAMPAIGNING TRIPS WHETHER HE WAS CAMPAIGNING FOR HIMSELF OR FOR SOME OTHER CANDIDATE, I WOULD GO.
AND I GOT ACQUAINTED VERY EARLY WITH THE FLAMBOYANT EARLY POLITICAL LIFE OF MISSOURI.
Narrator: BENTON'S MOTHER, ELIZABETH WAS 19 YEARS YOUNGER THAN HIS FATHER A BEAUTIFUL, PIOUS, HIGH-STRUNG TEXAN WITH ARTISTIC ASPIRATIONS WHO LOVED WASHINGTON SOCIETY AND DESPISED HER HUSBAND'S MISSOURI CONSTITUENTS.
Woman: HIS FATHER AND MOTHER WERE TOTALLY INCOMPATIBLE AND THEY HAD IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES ALL THE TIME.
AND IT ALMOST SEEMS AS THOUGH TOM'S MOTHER WOULD SIDE WITH HIM AGAINST HIS FATHER, JUST TO SPITE THE FATHER.
Narrator: FROM THE FIRST, TOM LOVED TO DRAW-- RUSHING TRAINS INDIANS IN WAR PAINT.
CUSTER'S LAST STAND WAS A FAVORITE SUBJECT COPIED FROM A PRINT GLIMPSED THROUGH THE SWINGING DOORS OF A MAIN STREET SALOON.
HIS MOTHER ENCOURAGED HIS ART, HIS FATHER DID NOT.
HE WAS DETERMINED THAT HIS SON WOULD BECOME A LAWYER AND A POLITICIAN.
"THAT I SHOULD EVEN THINK OF BECOMING AN ARTIST GAVE HIM A SENSE OF OUTRAGE," TOM REMEMBERED.
IT WOULD NEVER DO FOR A BENTON TO DESCEND SO LOW.
Small: HE STRUGGLED AGAINST OUR FATHER ALL THE TIME.
HE WASN'T STRUGGLING AGAINST ANYBODY ELSE IN THE HOUSE.
OUR FATHER HAD IDEAS ABOUT WHAT HE WAS TO DO IN THE WORLD AND THEY WERE NOT TOM'S IDEAS.
Narrator: AT 17 TOM LEFT HOME AND GOT A JOB AS A CARTOONIST LAMPOONING LOCAL CITIZENS FOR THE JOPLIN AMERICAN.
Man: ONE NIGHT HE WAS SEATED IN A SALOON LOOKING UP AT THE BAR.
BEHIND THE BAR AT THE HOUSE FLOOR SALOON THERE WAS THIS HUGE NAKED WOMAN IN THE PAINTING AND THE OLDER MEN STARTED KIDDING HIM.
THEY SAID, "SHORTY, WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT THAT PAINTING FOR?"
IMPLYING THAT HE WAS STARING AT THE NAKED WOMAN.
AND HE GOT VERY EMBARRASSED AND HE SAID HE WAS AN ARTIST, AND HE WAS JUST STUDYING THE ARTISTIC PROPORTIONS OF THE PAINTING.
T.H.
Benton: THE FELLOWS STARTED KIDDING ME, AND I TOLD THEM I WAS AN ARTIST AND TO PROVE IT, THEY KNEW THAT THEY NEEDED A DRAFTSMAN ON THE PAPER.
SO THEY TOOK ME DOWN THERE AND I GOT THE JOB.
I WAS 17 YEARS OLD.
I GOT $14 A WEEK; THAT WAS A BIG SALARY.
SO I THOUGHT THAT I BETTER STAY WITH THE ARTS AND MAKE MONEY.
THAT WAS ABOUT THE LAST MONEY I MADE FOR 20 YEARS.
Narrator: HE NOW DEMANDED TO GO TO ART SCHOOL BUT HIS FATHER PACKED HIM OFF TO A MILITARY ACADEMY INSTEAD SURE IT WOULD DRIVE THE ART OUT OF HIM.
IT DID NOT.
HE DID WELL AT ENGLISH AND FOOTBALL AND SENT DOZENS OF ILLUSTRATED LETTERS HOME.
BUT HE PILED UP DEMERITS, FAILED AT MATHEMATICS AND WAS ENCOURAGED TO GO ELSEWHERE.
FINALLY THE COLONEL GAVE IN AND TOM ENTERED THE PRESTIGIOUS CHICAGO ART INSTITUTE.
HE MADE A NOISY IMPRESSION.
HE REFUSED TO DRAW PLASTER CASTS ELBOWED HIS WAY INTO CLASSES RESERVED FOR OLDER STUDENTS AND ASSURED A FRIEND THAT HIS PAINTINGS WOULD ONE DAY BE AS IMPORTANT AS THE FUNNY PAPERS.
WHEN AN OLDER STUDENT TEASED HIM ABOUT HIS SIZE HE PUSHED HIM DOWN A COAL CHUTE.
"I BECOME MORE AND MORE CONSCIOUS" TOM WROTE TO HIS MOTHER FROM CHICAGO, "THAT IN ME LIES "SOME UNEXPLAINABLE POWER, WHICH SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE "I WILL BE ABLE TO UNCHAIN "AND WHICH WILL MAKE ME RISE FAR ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE ORDINARY MORTAL."
HIS TEACHERS AGREED AND URGED HIS PARENTS TO SEND HIM TO PARIS TO STUDY.
IT WAS 1908.
PARIS WAS THE HOME OF PICASSO, BRAQUE, MATISSE-- ALL YOUNG MEN AND REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY ARTISTS SAW THE WORLD.
"MY GENIUS NOTIONS WERE DISPELLED IN A HURRY" BENTON REMEMBERED.
"THE QUARTER WAS OVERRUN WITH GENIUSES.
"I WAS MERELY A ROUGHNECK WITH A TALENT FOR FIGHTING BUT NOT FOR PAINTING."
TOM RENTED A TINY STUDIO, GREW A MOUSTACHE INSTALLED A MISTRESS, AND SPENT HOURS AT THE LOUVRE.
HE DISLIKED HIS CLASSES, DISLIKED HIS OWN WORK DRANK AND TALKED A LOT.
HE WAS KNOWN IN PARIS AS "LE PETIT BALZAC."
WHEN HIS MOTHER CAME TO VISIT AND FOUND OUT ABOUT THE MISTRESS SHE TOOK HER BOY HOME.
HE RETURNED TO MISSOURI WEARING A STYLISH BLACK SUIT AND FLOURISHING A WALKING STICK.
NEOSHO HAD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE HIM.
THE COLONEL SENT HIM TO NEW YORK.
Small: HE ONCE SAID THAT THE ARTIST'S LIFE WAS THE BEST IN THE WORLD IF YOU COULD GET THROUGH THE FIRST 40 YEARS.
Narrator: IN NEW YORK, BENTON HAD FEW PROSPECTS AND NO MONEY.
HE STOLE PAINTS FROM MACY'S FAILED AT PORTRAITS AND CALENDAR ART PAINTED MOVIE SETS, WORKED AS AN EXTRA SERVED A STINT IN THE NAVY AND SURVIVED A STABBING BY AN IRATE GIRLFRIEND.
HE ENTERED THE WORLD OF RADICAL ART AND POLITICS GETTING TO KNOW ALFRED STIEGLITZ AND THE EDITOR MAX EASTMAN.
HE JOINED THE JOHN REED CLUB AND THE PEOPLE'S ART GUILD AND BEFRIENDED COMMUNISTS BUT ALWAYS REMAINED ON THE OUTER EDGES OF THINGS.
A FRIEND REMEMBERED THAT HE NEVER SMILED.
ALWAYS HE CONTINUED TO PAINT.
HE IMITATED PISSARRO, CEZANNE AND KANDINSKY.
HE TRIED IMPRESSIONISM, POINTILLISM, CUBISM CONSTRUCTIVISM, SYMBOLISM, SYNCHRONISM-- NONE OF IT SATISFIED HIM.
"I SPENT 15 YEARS ON MY BEAM-END," HE REMEMBERED "ROCKED BY EVERY WAVE THAT CAME ALONG.
I FLOUNDERED, WITHOUT A COMPASS, IN EVERY DIRECTION."
Kramer: BENTON'S WORK AS A MODERNIST, I THOUGHT WAS REALLY VERY STRONG.
I WOULD NEVER HAVE PUT HIM UP IN THE FIRST CLASS BUT IT WAS APPRENTICE WORK IT WAS THE WORK OF A YOUNG ARTIST DISCOVERING NEW IDEAS WHICH CLEARLY SCARED THE LIFE OUT OF HIM BECAUSE HE MADE CERTAIN LATER ON THAT HE NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH A NEW IDEA EVER AGAIN.
Narrator: BENTON EXPERIMENTED MOST WITH SYNCHRONISM COMBINING BRILLIANT COLOR WITH THE EXPLODED FORMS OF THE CUBISTS.
BUT HE WAS ALSO DRAWN TO THE COMPOSITIONAL PRINCIPLES OF RENAISSANCE MASTERS: RUBENS, EL GRECO, TINTORETTO-- ESPECIALLY TINTORETTO.
IN ABOUT 1919, IT WAS REALLY THE BREAKTHROUGH FOR TOM BENTON WHEN HE FOUND A WAY TO BUILD CLAY MODELS AS A BASIS FOR HIS PAINTINGS.
IN HIS STUDIES HE DISCOVERED TINTORETTO AND TINTORETTO'S MAKING OF LITTLE WAX FIGURES AND PUTTING THEM ON A STAGE AND LIGHTING THEM ACHIEVING AN EFFECT THAT HE COULD THEN GET INTO HIS PAINTINGS.
ONCE HE HAD THIS BASIS FOR HIS PAINTINGS HE COULD THEN APPLY IT TO JUST A PARADE OF HISTORICAL RECOLLECTIONS, AND THE AMERICAN MYTHS THAT HE INCORPORATED IN HIS GREAT MURALS-- ALL THROUGH THE PROJECTION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL FORM BASED ON THOSE THREE- DIMENSIONAL MODELS AND FOR THE NEXT 55 YEARS TOM BENTON DIDN'T DO A PAINTING UNLESS HE FIRST DID IT IN CLAY.
Man: HE MADE THE DECISION AFTER HE'D REALLY GOTTEN INVOLVED IN CONTENT AND BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF MEANING TO HIS AUDIENCES AND TO HIMSELF-- WHAT HE WANTED TO SAY WITH HIS PAINTING.
HE ABANDONED THE MORE THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THINGS AND BEGAN TO DEAL WITH MORE THREE-DIMENSIONAL, BAROQUE STORYTELLING KINDS OF THINGS.
Narrator: "I PROCLAIMED HERESIES AROUND NEW YORK," BENTON REMEMBERED.
"I WANTED MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE "TO MAKE PICTURES, THE IMAGERY OF WHICH WOULD CARRY UNMISTAKABLE AMERICAN MEANINGS FOR AMERICANS."
HE BELIEVED IN AMERICA-- IN THE SPIRIT THAT WAS IN THE COUNTRY AND HE FELT THAT THE ART SHOULD COME FROM THE COUNTRY.
TO BE CLEAR, LIKE THE AMERICAN SOUL IS AND ARTICULATE IN A SIMPLER WAY NOT ABSTRACT, BUT DOWN TO EARTH, AND REAL.
Narrator: "I SET OUT PAINTING AMERICAN HISTORIES," BENTON SAID "IN DEFIANCE OF ALL THE CONVENTIONS OF OUR ART WORLD."
AND HE STARTED WORK ON A SERIES OF BIG CANVASES WHICH HE CALLED "THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL EPIC."
E. Piacenza: HISTORY WAS NOT FACTS TO HIM, BUT TRANSLATED INTO THE ACTIVITIES OF PEOPLE DOING THINGS.
HISTORY HAD TO BE ALIVE.
IT HAD TO BE COLORFUL, IT HAD TO BE MOVING IT HAD TO SAY SOMETHING.
OH, DEAR, I SEE LEAPING FIGURES, YES AND I SEE INDIANS WITH TOMAHAWKS AND SO ON.
HE LIKED THAT.
THOSE THAT WENT INTO THE LORE AND LEGEND OF AMERICAN HISTORY, YES.
HE WAS TRYING TO PUT ART TO SOME HUMAN END; TO SERVE SOME HUMAN PURPOSE; TO MAKE AMERICANS SOMEHOW OR OTHER ALIVE TO SOME DEEP DIMENSION OF THEIR OWN REALITY.
I THINK THAT'S A GREAT PURPOSE FOR ART TO SERVE.
HE WANTED PEOPLE WHO WOULD READ FUNNY PAPERS TO LIKE THE PICTURES, HE REALLY DID.
Narrator: IN 1924, BENTON WAS CALLED HOME TO NEOSHO.
HIS FATHER HAD THROAT CANCER.
THEY RECONCILED THEIR DIFFERENCES AT THE OLD MAN'S BEDSIDE.
"I CANNOT SAY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WHILE I WATCHED MY FATHER DIE AND LISTENED TO THE VOICES OF HIS FRIENDS," BENTON WROTE "BUT I KNOW THAT WHEN I GOT BACK EAST "I WAS MOVED BY A GREAT DESIRE TO PICK UP THE THREADS OF MY CHILDHOOD."
I'M NOT A PSYCHO-BIOGRAPHER, BUT I DO THINK A GOOD DEAL OF BENTON'S ADULT CHARACTER GREW FROM HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS FATHER WHO WAS A POPULIST SENATOR, WHO DID NOT LIKE EASTERN INTERESTS NOR INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS AND DID NOT LIKE MODERN ART AT ALL AND BENTON BECAME, IN EFFECT, LIKE HIS FATHER AFTER HIS FATHER DIED.
Narrator: FROM THEN ON HE WOULD ROAM THE AMERICAN COUNTRYSIDE WHENEVER HE COULD-- NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST.
"I STUCK MY NOSE INTO EVERYTHING," HE SAID AND HE PRODUCED THOUSANDS OF DRAWINGS OF THE PEOPLE HE MET AND THE PLACES HE SAW.
A FRIEND CALLED THEM "A MOUNTAIN OF AMERICANA."
HE WOULD MINE THAT MOUNTAIN ALL HIS LIFE.
AFTER PARIS AND SO ON, HE'D BEEN THROUGHOUT AMERICA JUST MAKING DRAWINGS OF THE LIFE OF PEOPLE OUT IN THE MIDWEST-- DRAWINGS WHICH TO ME HAD THE CHARACTER OF MARK TWAIN IN LITERATURE-- I MEAN, RIGHT OUT OF AMERICAN LIFE AND A PART OF AMERICAN LIFE THAT HAD NOT BEEN PUT INTO THE ARTS.
Narrator: WHILE TEACHING NIGHT CLASSES AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL BENTON FELL IN LOVE WITH A BEAUTIFUL STUDENT RITA PIACENZA.
SHE WAS AN ITALIAN IMMIGRANT AND A ROMAN CATHOLIC.
BENTON'S FAMILY WAS APPALLED; SO WAS HERS.
Man: WE THOUGHT THAT HE DIDN'T HAVE A JOB THAT HE WAS PAINTING, HE COULDN'T SELL AND RITA HAD TO SUPPORT HIM.
YOU KNOW, ITALIANS, THEY EXPECT THE MAN TO SUPPORT THE WIFE NOT THE WIFE TO SUPPORT THE HUSBAND.
Narrator: THEY GOT MARRIED ANYWAY.
RITA MADE HATS WHILE TOM PAINTED.
T.H.
Benton: NOW, WE LED A SIMPLE LIFE.
MY GOD, I LIVED IN NEW YORK CITY AT THE TIME IN A FLAT THAT HAD NO HEAT.
I HAD TO CARRY COAL UP FIVE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS AND WE HAD KEROSENE LAMPS.
THAT'S RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF NEW YORK CITY.
Narrator: WHEN THEIR FIRST CHILD-- THOMAS PIACENZA BENTON KNOWN AS T.P.-- WAS BORN, HE SLEPT IN A DRESSER DRAWER.
Man: MY MOTHER VISITED THEIR APARTMENT, WHICH I GUESS WAS VERY CLOSE TO THE...
FULL-FLEDGED DEFINITION OF ABJECT SQUALOR AND CHAOS, AND NO ADORNMENTS, NO AMENITIES AND MY MOTHER SAID TO RITA, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN LIVE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS"; TO WHICH RITA REPLIED, WITH CONFIDENCE AND A TOUCH OF HAUTEUR, "MY HUSBAND IS A GENIUS."
Bennett: OH, BOY-- RITA BENTON?
BOY!
WHAT A WOMAN.
MORE FIRE IN THAT FAT ITALIAN LADY THAN I EVER SAW IN ANY WOMAN AND I LOVED RITA, AND I THINK ANYBODY WHO KNEW RITA LOVED RITA BENTON.
Narrator: BENTON WAS OFTEN AWAY SKETCHING FOR MONTHS AT A TIME AND HATED INTERRUPTIONS WHEN AT HOME.
"TOM IS THE WORST HUSBAND AND WORST FATHER THAT EVER LIVED" RITA ONCE TOLD A FRIEND.
"NO AMERICAN WOMAN COULD HAVE BEEN MARRIED TO TOM."
E. Piacenza: TOM WOULD GET DISCOURAGED, AND HE'D TEAR UP A PAINTING AND RITA WOULD HAVE HIM OUT IN HIS STUDIO THE NEXT MORNING, PAINTING AGAIN AND SHE ENCOURAGED HIM GREATLY.
SHE'D LOOK AT HIS PAINTING AND SHE'D SAY, "TOM, IT'S FANTASTIC."
WELL, HE TOLD ME THAT IF IT WASN'T FOR... "IT'S BEEN VERY HARD "TO LIVE WITH YOUR SISTER ALL THESE YEARS.
"THAT'S A HARD WOMAN TO GET ALONG.
"BUT IF IT WASN'T FOR HER-- "I WAS A BUM, I WOULD STILL BE A BUM AND I WOULDN'T HAVE A DIME TO MY NAME."
Narrator: IN 1929 RITA SOMEHOW TALKED THE PRESIDENT OF THE NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH IN GREENWICH VILLAGE INTO LETTING TOM PAINT NINE MURAL PANELS FOR A BOARDROOM THERE.
IT WAS HIS FIRST BIG COMMISSION.
HIS ONLY PAYMENT WAS THE PRICE OF THE EGGS THAT WENT INTO PREPARING HIS PAINT.
"AMERICA TODAY" WAS THE THEME.
"IT MAY NOT BE ART," BENTON SAID, "BUT IT IS HISTORY."
WHAT'S WONDERFUL ABOUT "AMERICA TODAY" IS THE COMPLEXITY AND THE ENERGY-- A HUGE, BRAWLING NUMBER OF FIGURES ALL JOSTLING ONE ANOTHER FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
I LIKE THE ENERGY LEVEL.
"AMERICA TODAY"-- AMERICA TODAY, TODAY, MODERN.
Adams: "AMERICA TODAY" IS PROBABLY BENTON'S MOST MUSCULAR PAINTING.
THE WAY IT WAS SET UP IN THE NEW SCHOOL IT WAS SO CLOSE TO YOU THAT YOU WERE CONFRONTING FIGURES THAT SEEMED BIGGER THAN YOU WERE WITH THESE VERY HOT, AGGRESSIVE COLORS THESE PURPLES AND ORANGES.
Goodrich: IT WAS A NEW TECHNIQUE COMPLETELY IN MURAL PAINTING OF ACTUALLY TAKING REALITY AND MAKING MURAL ART DIRECTLY OUT OF IT.
HERE'S A MAN WHO TOOK THE WHOLE FACE OF AMERICA AND TRIED TO MAKE A WORK OF ART OUT OF IT.
IT WAS TOO CROWDED, NO QUESTION, ARTISTICALLY SPEAKING BUT AFTER ALL, A SUPERABUNDANCE OF VITALITY IS SOMETHING YOU DON'T JUST SLOUGH OFF.
Marling: HE SHOWS YOU PRIZEFIGHTING.
HE SHOWS YOU LADIES GOING TO THE MOVIES SNEAKING OFF FOR THE AFTERNOON.
HE SHOWS YOU PREACHERS YOWLING ON STREET CORNERS AND SALVATION ARMY BANDS.
ALMOST EVERYTHING BECOMES A KIND OF GAUDY ENTERTAINMENT THAT BENTON LOOKS AT.
Adams: IN "AMERICA TODAY," BENTON HAS SLIPPED IN ALL KINDS OF SLY REFERENCES ABOUT HIS NEW YORK FRIENDS.
THERE'S A SCENE WHERE HIS ONETIME FRIEND, MAX EASTMAN IS SHOWN OGLING A GIRL IN THE SUBWAY BUT NOT GIVING UP HIS SEAT AND TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE SALACIOUS THE HEAD OF THE GIRL IN THE SUBWAY IS A NOTORIOUS STRIPPER WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY WELL KNOWN TO THE NEW YORKERS OF THE TIME.
Narrator: ABSTRACTIONISTS DENOUNCED BENTON FOR TRYING TO TELL STORIES WITH HIS PAINTINGS.
SOCIAL REALISTS DENOUNCED HIS STORYTELLING FOR NOT BLAMING CAPITALISM FOR THE DEPRESSION.
BENTON WAS UNMOVED.
IT WAS THE SHEER ENERGY OF AMERICA THAT COMPELLED HIM.
Adams: THERE'S A MAGICAL PERIOD IN BENTON'S WORK FROM ABOUT 1928 TO 1938 WHERE IT SEEMED AS THOUGH HE COULD DO NO WRONG AS A PAINTER.
ONE AFTER ANOTHER, HE WAS TURNING OUT INCREDIBLY MEMORABLE PAINTINGS WHICH I WOULD CHARACTERIZE AS MASTERPIECES AND THERE'S SOMETHING COMPULSIVE ABOUT HIM IN THAT PERIOD.
IN THE INDIANA MURAL, FOR EXAMPLE HE WAS PAINTING A WALL 12 FEET HIGH AND 250 FEET LONG-- THAT'S TO SAY, A WALL THE SIZE OF A CITY BLOCK-- WHICH HE PAINTED IN LESS THAN A YEAR WITH HUNDREDS OF FIGURES.
Field: BENTON'S MURALS HAVE REALLY A REMARKABLE UNIQUENESS.
THEY SEEM TO LEAP OUT OF THE WALLS.
PART OF THIS IS DUE TO COLOR.
PART OF THIS IS DUE TO A REMARKABLE DEPTH PERCEPTION THAT HE COULD PUT ON CANVAS IN MANY INSTANCES, BIGGER THAN LIFE.
THESE THINGS TOGETHER TOLD A STORY THAT LEAPS OUT AT YOU FROM THE WALLS.
Scott: ANOTHER THING HAD TO DO WITH THE PERSPECTIVES HE USED THAT HE USED A HIGH HORIZON LINE-- IF YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, THE LEVEL OF THE EYE-- WOULD BE HIGH IN THE PICTURE AND YOU LOOKED DOWN ON THINGS.
BUT PERSPECTIVE IMPLIES ONE VANISHING POINT.
TOM TOOK LIBERTIES WITH THAT.
HE WOULD MOVE THE VANISHING POINT ALONG ON THE SAME HORIZON LINE SO THAT YOU COULD HAVE A SHIFTING VANISHING POINT.
Narrator: BENTON'S VAST MURAL FOR THE INDIANA EXHIBIT AT THE 1933 CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR WON HIM PLENTY OF ATTENTION BUT FEW FRIENDS IN INDIANA BECAUSE IT INCLUDED A COAL MINERS' STRIKE AND A KU KLUX KLAN RALLY.
NEW YORK CRITICS DENOUNCED IT, TOO.
Goodrich: HE MADE HIS ENEMIES, OF COURSE.
ON THE ONE HAND, THERE WERE THE SOPHISTICATED PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT IN TERMS OF INTERNATIONAL ART PARTICULARLY FRENCH ART; AND THE OTHER WAS THE SOCIAL CONTENT SCHOOL REPRESENTED BY PEOPLE LIKE STUART DAVIS AND BEN SHAHN AND SO ON.
IN THOSE DAYS, THE ART WORLD WAS VERY LIVELY-- AN AWFUL LOT GOING ON, ALL KINDS OF FIGHTS; IT WAS KIND OF FUN.
I LIKE REALISM IN AMERICAN ART BUT I DON'T LIKE BENTON'S WORK AT ALL.
HIS COLOR WAS BAD, AND...
HE DIDN'T DRAW WELL.
I DON'T KNOW WHY HE BECAME AN ARTIST.
TO ME, THERE ISN'T ANY ENERGY IN THOSE PAINTINGS OF AMERICA TODAY.
IT'S A KIND OF CARTOON VERSION OF WHAT AMERICA WAS AT THAT TIME.
I REMEMBER SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT AMERICAN CITY LIFE WAS LIKE IN THE '30s.
IT BORE ABSOLUTELY NO RELATION TO BENTON'S VISION OF IT.
Narrator: BENTON NOW TOOK TO LECTURING ON ART AND POLITICS.
ONCE, AT THE JOHN REED CLUB AN AGITATED PARTY MEMBER THREW A CHAIR AT HIM.
I THINK HE WAS LOOKING FOR THE CHAPLIN AUDIENCE, ALMOST, IN A SENSE.
HE FELT THAT HE COULD SET CERTAIN STRINGS VIBRATING AMONG AMERICAN PEOPLE, THAT WOULD GIVE ART THE IMMEDIACY THAT PERHAPS IT HAD IN THE RENAISSANCE WHERE IT BECAME A FIGHTING THING, YOU KNOW.
WHEN SOMEBODY FINISHED SOMETHING THE WHOLE DAMN POPULATION WOULD TURN OUT TO SEE IT.
THE THING ABOUT ART TO ME IS ENERGY, POWER PLASTIC POWER IN THE WORK OF ART ITSELF.
AND HE HAD THAT QUALITY, NO QUESTION.
Narrator: BENTON WAS NOT THE ONLY PAINTER WHO WAS AT ODDS WITH THE NEW YORK ART WORLD AND WHO DREAMED OF ESTABLISHING A DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN ART.
GRANT WOOD, AN IOWAN AND JOHN STEUART CURRY OF KANSAS ALREADY WORKED IN THE MIDWEST.
Man: AT THAT TIME, I CONSIDERED THEM THREE IMPORTANT AMERICAN ARTISTS AND HE WAS ONE OF THEM-- THOMAS BENTON, GRANT WOOD AND STEUART CURRY.
THEY WERE THE GREAT AMERICAN ARTISTS IN THOSE DAYS.
Narrator: POLITICAL AND AESTHETIC CRITICS ALIKE DENOUNCED THEM AS MERE REGIONALISTS BY WHICH THEY MEANT ISOLATIONIST, CHAUVINISTIC.
BUT BENTON, WOOD AND CURRY CAME TO BE PROUD OF THE NAME AND WHEN TIME MAGAZINE WROTE THEM UP IN 1934 WITH BENTON'S SELF-PORTRAIT ON THE COVER THEY BECAME THE NATION'S BEST-KNOWN PAINTERS.
Goodrich: BENTON WAS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THE WHOLE REGIONAL SCHOOL.
I MEAN, AS MUCH AS I LIKE GRANT WOOD'S WORK I DON'T THINK IT HAS THE SAME QUALITY NOR JOHN STEUART CURRY, WHO WAS MY GOOD FRIEND.
THEY WERE FINE PAINTERS.
GRANT WOOD WAS, IN A WAY, AN INNOVATOR, TOO BUT NOT TO THE EXTENT THAT BENTON WAS.
THOMAS BENTON, I THINK, TRANSCENDED ILLUSTRATION.
I MEAN, HE TRANSCENDED IT.
AND HE HAD A STYLE OF HIS OWN A VERY IMPETUOUS KIND OF STYLE VERY MUCH HIS OWN.
NOBODY ELSE PAINTED LIKE HIM, THE SAME SPIRIT.
Adams: HE CALLED HIMSELF A REGIONALIST BUT HE DIDN'T PAINT ONE REGION OF THE COUNTRY.
HE REALLY ROAMED THE WHOLE COUNTRY FROM NEW YORK TO HOLLYWOOD FROM THE OBSCURE PARTS OF THE OZARKS IN THE DEEP SOUTH TO THE BIG, OPEN SPACES OF THE GREAT PLAINS.
BENTON REALLY GOT ALL OVER AMERICA.
Narrator: IN 1935, BENTON PUBLISHED A FURIOUS ASSAULT ON THE CITY WHERE HE HAD LIVED AND WORKED FOR ALMOST 25 YEARS.
THE HOPE OF AMERICAN ART NOW LAY IN THE HEARTLAND, HE SAID.
THE NEW YORK ART WORLD WAS MORBIDLY NARROW AND HIGHLY CRITICAL OF INNOVATION AND UNDER THE DOMINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS.
Campanella: HE KNEW HOW TO GET ONTO THE FRONT PAGE.
IT'S BETTER TO BE CALLED A LOUSE, ANYTHING THAN NOT BE MENTIONED AT ALL.
I MEAN, HE BECAME PUBLIC NEWS-- NOT ON THE ART PAGE, ON THE FRONT PAGE.
Kramer: WHAT I SEE IN HIS ART IS THE WORK OF A MAN WHO REALLY SHRANK AWAY FROM WHAT I CONSIDERED THE LARGEST TASKS OF ART IN THIS CENTURY.
HE HAD A GLIMPSE OF IT IN PARIS AND IN NEW YORK.
HE MADE AN ATTEMPT AT IT, AND HE WASN'T EQUAL TO IT.
SO HE PACKED HIS BAGS AND WENT BACK TO WHERE HE COULD BE A BIG FIGURE IN A SMALL WORLD.
Small: I OFTEN SAY THERE AREN'T ANY REAL NEW YORKERS.
THEY ALL CAME FROM THE MIDDLE WEST.
( she laughs ) THAT'S NOT STRICTLY TRUE, BUT IT'S AMAZING.
THERE'S A GREAT DEAL OF FORCE IN THE MIDDLE WEST.
IT IS THE UNITED STATES.
THE SHORES ARE THE BORDERS.
THINGS GO ON IN VERY LIVELY FASHION IN SAN FRANCISCO AND NEW YORK CITY BUT THEY AREN'T THE UNITED STATES.
Narrator: NOW AT AGE 45, BENTON WENT HOME TO MISSOURI TO BECOME HEAD OF THE PAINTING DEPARTMENT AT THE KANSAS CITY ART INSTITUTE.
Adams: IT'S THE STORY OF THE HERO'S RETURN.
IT'S THE STORY OF THE TEENAGE BOY WHO LEFT HIS HOME TOWN TO PURSUE OTHER DIRECTIONS IN LIFE TO REJECT THE POLITICAL WORLD OF HIS FATHER AND THEN EVENTUALLY CAME BACK HOME AGAIN BUT CAME BACK HOME ON HIS OWN TERMS.
TOM, WHAT IS IT THAT TOOK YOU BACK TO KANSAS CITY AFTER SPENDING SO MUCH TIME IN NEW YORK?
WELL, THE FIRST THING WAS THAT THE STATE OF MISSOURI RAISED ENOUGH MONEY FOR ME TO PAINT A MURAL IN THE STATE CAPITOL.
I THOUGHT THAT WOULD TAKE A COUPLE OF YEARS SO WE MOVED OUT HERE TO DO IT.
THERE ARE OTHER REASONS, HOWEVER-- I WAS A LITTLE FED UP WITH THE CONSTANT QUARRELING AND BICKERING AND THE AESTHETIC ATMOSPHERE OF NEW YORK IN WHICH, AS AN ARTIST, I WAS FORCED TO LIVE.
SO, PARTLY THE RETURN WAS A FLIGHT FROM THE VARIOUS IDIOCIES OF THAT.
T.H.
Benton: I WAS COMMISSIONED TO MAKE A HISTORY OF MISSOURI BUT A PARTICULAR KIND-- A SOCIAL HISTORY A HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE OF MISSOURI THOSE WHO ACTUALLY MADE MISSOURI.
MOST MURALS ARE PAINTED WITH ONE SUBJECT AND THIS MURAL IS DIFFERENT IN THE FACT THAT IT DEALS WITH A MULTIPLICITY OF SUBJECTS.
AND IT WAS A CONSIDERABLE TECHNICAL PROBLEM TO GET THEM ALL IN HERE.
Newsreel announcer: ALL MISSOURI GETS EXCITED ABOUT THE STATEHOUSE MURALS.
THE PAINTINGS BY THOMAS HART BENTON HAVE DRAWN 30,000 SPECTATORS.
Campanella: HE PLANNED HIS LIFE AND AS A POLITICIAN, HE KNEW HOW TO GO ABOUT IT.
HE TOLD ME THE WAY HE GOT HIS MURAL: HE WAS WITH SOME OF THE POLITICIANS AND IT WAS AT A PARTY, AND THEY WERE DRUNK AND HE JUST SLIPPED IT TO THEM: "WHAT YOU NEED IS A MURAL BY BENTON!"
SO THEY SAID, "YES, YES, YES!"
THE NEXT DAY, HE SHOWED UP AND SAID, "WHERE'S THE CONTRACT?"
AND THEY SAID, "WHAT CONTRACT?"
THEY HAD FORGOTTEN.
BUT HE PUT IT OVER, AND GOT THE CONTRACT.
HE MADE THE COMMISSION; THEY DIDN'T COME LOOKING FOR HIM.
AND THAT'S THE WAY HE'S DONE HIS LIFE.
Narrator: IT WAS HIS MASTERPIECE.
HE COVERED THE JEFFERSON CITY WALLS WITH FAMILIAR SCENES AND PEOPLE: HIS BROTHER PLEADS A CASE BEFORE A JURY; HIS FATHER HARANGUES A CROWD THAT INCLUDES HIS OLD LAW PARTNER.
Piacenza: EVERYTHING IN THAT MURAL RELATES TO HIS BOYHOOD.
AND HE SAID AT THE TIME HE DID IT: "IT'S LIKE LIVING MY BOYHOOD OVER AGAIN."
Adams: THE JEFFERSON CITY MURAL IS AN EXTREMELY PERSONAL STATEMENT BECAUSE HE'S REPRESENTING A SOCIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI AND BY IMPLICATION, A SOCIAL HISTORY OF AMERICA.
BUT HE GIVES HIS OWN FAMILY A VERY CENTRAL PLACE IN IT AND INTERESTINGLY, NOT THE MOST FAMOUS MEMBER OF HIS FAMILY NOT HIS NAMESAKE, SENATOR THOMAS HART BENTON BUT IT'S HIS FATHER AND HIS BROTHER WHO DOMINATE THE CENTRAL SECTION OF THAT MURAL THE HUGE 40-FOOT WALL.
Narrator: BENTON'S VERSION OF MISSOURI'S MORE DISTANT PAST WAS FILLED WITH HARD TRUTHS AND THE ENDURING MYTHS OF THE STATE: HUCK FINN JESSE JAMES AND THE LEGEND OF FRANKIE AND JOHNNY.
Field: AND THIS PICTURE BECAME QUITE CONTROVERSIAL BUT IT GENERALLY IS CREDITED THAT FRANKIE GOT HER REVENGE ON JOHNNY IN SOME OF THE LESS RESPECTABLE AREAS OF THE TOWN OF ST. LOUIS.
Narrator: BENTON PUT EVERYTHING IN.
EVEN THE PRINT OF "CUSTER'S LAST STAND" WHICH INSPIRED HIM AS A BOY IS ON THE WALL IN "FRANKIE AND JOHNNY."
POLITICIANS AND CLERGYMEN OBJECTED TO HIS PORTRAYAL OF A LYNCHING OR THE PRESENCE OF LOWLIFES A BARE-BOTTOMED BABY AND THE NOTORIOUS BOSS OF KANSAS CITY, TOM PENDERGAST.
Larson: HE TELLS A TRUTHFUL STORY THERE AND HE'S NOT AFRAID TO TELL THE UNDERSIDE THE DARK SIDE OF THE HISTORY OF THE STATE.
AND WHEN HE DOES THINGS TO SUGGEST THAT THERE WAS POVERTY DURING THE DEPRESSION, THAT THERE WAS SLAVERY THAT THE MORMONS WERE PERSECUTED THAT THE INDIANS WERE CHEATED THAT THERE WAS HYPOCRISY GOING ON IN TERMS OF POLITICS AND RELIGION AND LAW-- HE'S TELLING IT LIKE IT IS AND HE DOES IT BEAUTIFULLY.
Bennett: PEOPLE SAY WE'RE A BUNCH OF LITTLE BENTONS-- WELL, WE WERE.
TOM SAID TO US: "I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU GUYS THE TOOLS OF THIS TRADE.
"THEN YOU GO OUT AND GO YOUR OWN WAY.
BUT WHILE YOU'RE HERE, I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU WHAT I KNOW."
TOM'S PHRASE WAS "GRAND DESIGN": "YOU GOT TO GET THE GRAND DESIGN FIRST.
"DON'T GET INTO DETAIL, AND THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER "UNTIL YOU'VE GOT A GRAND DESIGN.
"WHEN YOU'VE GOT THE GRAND DESIGN NOW YOU CAN MAKE A PAINTING."
JUST AS THE STUDENTS WANTED TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE GREAT PAINTER BENTON WANTED TO BE ONE OF THE STUDENTS, OR ONE OF THE WORKMEN.
HE WANTED TO BE A MAN APPLYING HIS TRADE.
Narrator: STUDENTS HAD ALWAYS SOUGHT HIM OUT.
ONE OF THE FIRST WAS A YOUNG MAN NAMED JACKSON POLLOCK WHO BECAME ALMOST A SON TO THE BENTONS.
T.H.
Benton: I MADE FRIENDS OUT OF MY STUDENTS.
THEY WERE MY ONLY ASSOCIATES, AND JACK WAS ONE OF THEM.
HE'D COME TO MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND HELP ME WITH THE CHORES THERE AND THE WORK.
WE HAD A LITTLE HOUSE WE USED TO PUT HIM IN.
WE HAD OTHER STUDENTS, BUT WE CALLED IT JACK'S HOUSE.
Narrator: POLLOCK OFTEN POSED FOR HIS TEACHER AND FOR A TIME EMULATED HIS STYLE.
THERE WAS A GUY WHO CAME INTO THE CLASS ONE TIME IN THE BEGINNING OF A SEMESTER.
AND HE SAT DOWN, AND HERE'S A MODEL, AND THE WHOLE THING.
AND THIS GUY GETS SOME PURPLE, AND HE PUTS A BIG GLOB OF YELLOW AND TOM SAYS, "THAT'S IT."
HE SAID, "NO BUGHOUSE ART, NO BUGHOUSE PAINTING IN MY CLASS."
HE SAYS, "YOU'RE OUT."
THE GUY LASTED ABOUT AS LONG AS IT TOOK HIM TO PUT ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE BLOBS OF COLOR.
HE JUST...
HE WAS REAL.
TOM BENTON WAS REAL.
THERE WASN'T ANYTHING PHONY ABOUT HIM.
THEN HE CAME HERE TO HIS HOME, AND HE PROSPERED AND, IN MY OPINION, HE DECAYED, BUT HE BECAME VERY POPULAR.
HIS WORK BECAME SLICKER, SMOOTHER, MORE DETAILED AND HE BECAME MORE LONELY.
OF COURSE, HE FELT A NEW LIFE WAS GOING TO BE BORN IN KANSAS CITY.
HE THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE THE ATHENS OF THE COUNTRY.
HE WAS TIRED OF THE DOMINATION OF THE PARIS SCHOOL IN NEW YORK.
HE FELT THAT HE WOULD FIND AN IMMEDIATE HOME IN KANSAS CITY.
HE WAS TRYING TO BE, AS IT WERE, TINTORETTO IN KANSAS.
HE WAS USING 16th-, 17th-CENTURY STRATEGIES FOR A 20th-CENTURY COUNTRY AND USING, AS IT WERE, THE DYNAMISMS OF HIGH ART IN ORDER TO PRESENT A COMMON MESSAGE TO COMMON PEOPLE.
THE DISTANCE WAS, I THINK, TOO GREAT.
Campanella: I THINK SOMEWHERE EARLY IN HIS LIFE HE SAYS, "I'M A MISSOURIAN," AND HE WENT BACK AND HE WENT THROUGH THE OZARKS AND SKETCHED.
HE WANTED TO GET THE FEELING OF THIS.
HE WORKED VERY HARD AT IT.
HE CAME UP WITH SOMETHING STIMULATING.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE EARLY WORK, IT IS STIMULATING IN APPROACH.
HE PAINTS RAPIDLY.
HE PAINTS WITH A LOT OF DECISION.
HE THEN GETS IT.
AND THE UNFORTUNATE THING, LIKE IT HAPPENS SO OFTEN MAYBE SUCCESS IS A DEADLY THING.
THEN WHAT TO DO WITH THE SUCCESS?
HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO PAINT AFTER THAT.
HE PAINTED SUCCESS.
Baigell: MANY OF HIS TRIPS THROUGH THE SOUTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST AND THROUGH APPALACHIA TOOK ON THE AURA OF A POLITICAL TOUR AS HE WROTE ABOUT IT AS IF HE WERE HIS FATHER VISITING HIS CONSTITUENTS AROUND AMERICA STEPPING INTO THEIR LIVES, TALKING TO THEM.
BUT BENTON WAS NOT ONE OF THEM.
HE SPOKE FRENCH, READ WIDELY AT THE SAME TIME, TRIED TO BE A HAYSEED TRIED TO BE ONE OF THE PEOPLE BUT WAS REALLY NOT ONE OF THE PEOPLE.
YOU SEE, TOM BENTON, HE LIKED TO BE A HAIL-FELLOW-WELL-MET AND ONE OF THE GANG, BUT HE WASN'T-- TOM BENTON WAS AN ARISTOCRAT.
Field: "THERE IS ABOUT THE MISSOURI LANDSCAPE "SOMETHING INTIMATE AND KNOWN TO ME.
"WHILE I DRIVE AROUND THE CURVE OF A COUNTRY ROAD "I SEEM TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO BE THERE "WHAT THE CREEK BEDS AND THE SYCAMORES "AND WALNUTS LINING THEM WILL LOOK LIKE "AND WHAT THE COLOR OF THE BLUFFS WILL BE.
"FEELING SO, I DON'T BELIEVE I SHALL EVER EAT THE WORDS "OF THE ESSAY I WROTE WHEN I LEFT NEW YORK.
"IT WILL TAKE CONSIDERABLE PRESSURE ANYHOW TO MAKE ME EAT THEM ALL AND GO BACK."
Narrator: IN 1938, BENTON PUBLISHED AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
IT SPARED NEITHER ENEMIES, NOR FRIENDS, NOR HIMSELF.
A REVIEWER PRONOUNCED IT "ALL MISSOURI, NO COMPROMISE."
James: ARTIST IN AMERICA IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF ITS DECADE.
IT'S APPALLING TO ME, IT MADE ME RATHER ANGRY AT MYSELF TO SEE THAT THIS MAN WHO WAS A PAINTER COULD HANDLE LANGUAGE THAT WELL.
I THINK HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY IS A REALLY SPLENDIDLY WRITTEN MEMOIR AND WHAT I PARTICULARLY ADMIRE ABOUT IT ARE THESE VERY SHORT, TOUGH SENTENCES.
I MEAN, EVERY SENTENCE IS REALLY LIKE A KIND OF BULL'S EYE.
I THINK THAT BENTON REALLY MISSED HIS VOCATION.
HE REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WRITER, RATHER THAN A PAINTER.
Narrator: BENTON'S FRANK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OUTRAGED COMMUNITY LEADERS IN KANSAS CITY WHO DEMANDED HE BE FIRED FROM THE ART INSTITUTE.
THE CONTROVERSY GREW HOTTER AFTER BENTON PAINTED TWO NUDES.
BOTH PICTURES WERE REALISTIC AND DETAILED IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPOSITION "WHICH SO PROJECTED THE LADIES," HE SAID "THAT THEIR NUDITY WAS IN QUITE POSITIVE EVIDENCE."
WHEN "SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS" WAS FIRST SHOWN IN ST. LOUIS CLERGYMEN WERE OUTRAGED THAT A NUDE WITH RED FINGERNAILS SHOULD REPRESENT A FIGURE FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.
VELVET ROPES HAD TO BE PUT UP TO KEEP MALE VISITORS FROM GETTING TOO CLOSE.
"PERSEPHONE" CAUSED AN EVEN BIGGER STIR.
Kramer: THAT'S PURE KITSCH, "PERSEPHONE" IS KITSCH.
IT'S LIKE GIRLIE PICTURES THAT USED TO APPEAR IN ESQUIRE OF AN EARLIER PERIOD.
THAT CERTAINLY HAS TO BE ONE OF HIS VERY WORST PAINTINGS.
Marling: "PERSEPHONE"... "PERSEPHONE" IS JUST A GLORIOUS AND WONDERFUL PAINTING.
SHE'S ONE OF THE GREAT WORKS OF AMERICAN PORNOGRAPHY.
SHE INVITES YOU TO HAVE EMOTIONS THAT YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE IN FRONT OF WORKS OF ART AND THEN DENIES YOU THE ABILITY TO FULFILL THEM.
IT'S JUST A KIND OF GREAT EXPERIENCE TO WALK INTO SOME STUFFY OLD ART GALLERY AND ALL OF A SUDDEN COME INTO CONTACT WITH THAT LADY; BESIDES WHICH, THERE'S THIS WONDERFUL OLD LECH PEERING AROUND THE CORNER AT HER!
"PERSEPHONE" IS A PRETTY LUSCIOUS PAINTING AND ALSO, I THINK IT'S AN EMOTIONALLY COMPLICATED PAINTING IN A WAY THAT'S QUITE FASCINATING BECAUSE IT'S REALLY ABOUT ALL THOSE COMPLEXITIES OF A MAN LUSTING AFTER A WOMAN BOTH THE WAY THAT THAT'S A WAY OF CONQUERING WOMEN BUT ALSO IT SUGGESTS SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH MEN FEEL VERY VULNERABLE.
Field: HIS FAVORITE PAINTING WAS "PERSEPHONE" BECAUSE HE GOT SO MUCH MILEAGE OUT OF WANTING IT HUNG IN A SALOON OR A BROTHEL RATHER THAN A MUSEUM.
Narrator: THE SHOWMAN BILLY ROSE MADE IT POSSIBLE AND "PERSEPHONE" HUNG FOR A TIME IN HIS MANHATTAN NIGHTCLUB, THE DIAMOND HORSESHOE.
BENTON TOLD REPORTERS THAT THE AVERAGE MUSEUM IS A GRAVEYARD RUN BY A PRETTY BOY WITH A CURVING WRIST.
THAT DID IT.
THE KANSAS CITY ART INSTITUTE FIRED HIM.
Medearis: WHY DID TOM BENTON GET FIRED?
WELL, RITA SAID THAT YOU GIVE TOM BENTON A COUPLE OF HIGHBALLS AND A COUPLE OF REPORTERS, AND HE WOULD TAKE OFF.
HE FELT THAT THEY HAD A BUNCH OF FAKES THERE.
HE WAS VERY HARSH ON WHAT HE CALLED "THE LIMP WRIST CROWD" AND ACTUALLY MADE IT RATHER TOUGH FOR THEM.
SOME OF THEM WERE A BIT LACKING IN TALENT BUT OTHERS WERE VERY, VERY IMPORTANT AND EXCELLENT CURATORS, IT TURNS OUT.
IT WASN'T THE BEST ASPECT OF TOM THAT HE WOULD TAKE OUT AFTER THAT.
( airplanes flying overhead ) Franklin D. Roosevelt: DECEMBER 7, 1941-- A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY.
Narrator: AMERICA, TOM BENTON'S AMERICA, WAS UNDER ATTACK.
"ART IS UNIMPORTANT ALONGSIDE LIFE," HE TOLD A REPORTER.
"EVEN THE STATUE OF LIBERTY SHOULD BE MELTED DOWN TO MAKE BULLETS."
WITHIN WEEKS, HE HAD PAINTED "THE YEAR OF PERIL" A SERIES OF TEN HUGE WAR PAINTINGS.
THEY WERE INTENDED, HE SAID TO AWAKEN AMERICANS TO THE DANGER THEY FACED TO PULL THEM OUT OF THEIR SHELLS OF PRETENSE AND MAKE-BELIEVE.
Newsreel announcer: A GREAT AMERICAN ARTIST, THOMAS HART BENTON PORTRAYS WORLD WAR II.
I MADE THESE PAINTINGS BECAUSE OF A CONVICTION OBTAINED BY TRAVELING AROUND THE COUNTRY TO LECTURE FOLLOWING PEARL HARBOR.
I SAW THAT TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE OVER-OPTIMISTIC AND UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THEIR LIVES COULD GO ON MUCH AS USUAL.
Newsreel announcer: NEW YORK GALLERIES FIRST SEE BENTON'S SERIES CALLED "THE YEAR OF PERIL."
THIS IS "EXTERMINATE" A PLEA THAT AMERICA OUTMATCH THE AXIS.
THIS IS CALLED "AGAIN."
BENTON SAYS IT PORTRAYS THE RECURRENCE OF EVIL PEOPLES MAD WITH POWER.
"THE SOWERS"-- AND BENTON ASKS "ARE WE TO STAND BY AND LET THEM REAP?"
"THE YEAR OF PERIL" IS A KIND OF ALMOST PSYCHOTIC OUTBURST IN BENTON'S WORK.
HE SOMEHOW JUST TOTALLY WENT OFF THE DEEP END IN THOSE PAINTINGS.
HE CLEARLY WAS UPSET ABOUT PEARL HARBOR AND THAT JUST SORT OF UNLOOSED ALL KINDS OF GARBAGE THAT WAS INSIDE HIS MIND.
SO IT JUST CAME OUT ALL OVER THE CANVAS.
Narrator: CRITICS CALLED THE WAR SERIES "CARTOONS" BUT 75,000 PEOPLE CAME OUT TO SEE THEM WHEN THEY WERE EXHIBITED IN NEW YORK AND 26 MILLION COPIES WERE PRINTED UP AS POSTERS.
Kramer: BUT OF COURSE, THERE'S NO SHORTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO ARE CAPABLE OF BEING MOVED BY BAD ART.
THE WORLD IS FULL OF BAD ART, AND PEOPLE LOVE IT.
I DON'T THINK POPULARITY CAN BE CITED AS A STANDARD OF ACHIEVEMENT IN ART.
Baigell: THE REASON WHY HIS WORK DECLINED, WHICH HE ADMITTED WAS THAT WORLD WAR II KNOCKED THE BOTTOM OUT OF ANYBODY WHO WAS CONCERNED JUST WITH AMERICAN ART.
THE 1940s WAS A PERIOD OF GLOBAL WARFARE AND TO BE CONCERNED WITH HOW ONE FELT IN A CERTAIN CITY OR PLACE IN AMERICA HE THOUGHT WAS IRRELEVANT, AND HE KNEW THIS.
Narrator: A NEW, DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN KIND OF PAINTING CAME OUT OF THE WAR-- THE NEW YORK SCHOOL OF ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM.
IT REPRESENTED EVERYTHING BENTON DESPISED.
T.H.
Benton: WHO ARE THE ONES WHO PATRONIZE AND SUPPORT MODERN ART?
IT IS SUPPORTED BY THE SONS AND THE DAUGHTERS-- MOSTLY THE DAUGHTERS-- OF 19th-CENTURY MILLIONAIRES WHO HAVE A LOT OF SURPLUS CAPITAL AND WHO CAN AFFORD TO PUT IT OUT AMUSING THEMSELVES WITH OBSCURE ISSUES!
WHY DO THEY SUPPORT IT?
FOR THE SIMPLE REASON THEY CAN AFFORD TO HIDE THEIR ABSOLUTELY CONSERVATIVE OPINIONS BY BEING VERY RADICAL ABOUT SOMETHING THAT DON'T COUNT!
I THINK BENTON HAD A LOT OF QUARRELS WITH MODERN ART BUT I SUPPOSE THE BASIC ONE WAS THAT HE THOUGHT IT APPEALED TO A PRIVILEGED ELITE AND HE WANTED TO MAKE ART THAT HAD A LARGER AND MORE UNIVERSAL STATEMENT TO IT AND THAT DEALT WITH MORE POWERFUL REALITIES OF DAILY LIFE THAT WASN'T QUITE SO PRECIOUS AND ESOTERIC.
I'M SURE THAT THE MOVEMENT HAD PASSED HIM BY.
CERTAINLY THE REGIONAL PAINTERS, THE MIDWESTERN SCHOOL HAD VANISHED BY THEN.
AND YOU KNOW, THE NEW YORK SCHOOL WAS SUDDENLY DOING WHAT TOM BENTON WANTED TO DO HIMSELF-- THEY WERE CHASING PARIS OUT OF THIS COUNTRY AND BECOMING THE WORLD CENTER.
Narrator: BENTON WAS 56 AT THE WAR'S END, AND INCREASINGLY ISOLATED.
GRANT WOOD HAD DIED IN 1942.
JOHN STEUART CURRY FOLLOWED IN 1946.
REGIONALISM WAS DEAD, TOO, AND REALISM, OUT OF FASHION.
Campanella: THE SO-CALLED EUROPEAN ABSTRACTIONISTS TOOK OVER AND HE WAS LOST.
HE HAD NOBODY TO FIGHT WITH.
THE U.S. ART MARKET NO LONGER WAS INTERESTED IN THE AMERICAN SCENE.
THEY WERE INTERESTED IN THIS NEW THING CALLED ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM, MINIMALISM, ACTION PAINTING.
Narrator: CRITICS NOW DISMISSED BENTON'S PAINTING AS SENTIMENTAL, OLD-FASHIONED, HOKEY BAROQUE.
HE NO LONGER HAD A GALLERY.
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM ASKED HIM TO FIND A NEW HOME FOR THE MURALS HE HAD PAINTED FOR THEM IN THE '30s.
THEY DIDN'T HAVE ROOM FOR HIS WORK.
Kramer: THERE IS A COLOSSAL IRONY IN THE FACT THAT BENTON'S MOST FAMOUS STUDENT, JACKSON POLLOCK WENT ON TO PRODUCE THE KIND OF AVANT-GARDE, ABSTRACT ART THAT BENTON HIMSELF MOST ARTICULATELY ABOMINATED.
ONE COULD ALMOST BELIEVE THAT THERE WAS A KIND OF POETIC JUSTICE THERE THAT EVERYTHING BENTON REJECTED, POLLOCK EXALTED.
Narrator: THE MOST PUBLICIZED ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST WAS BENTON'S OLD STUDENT, JACKSON POLLOCK WHO CLAIMED HE LEARNED NOTHING FROM HIS OLD TEACHER.
BENTON, HE SAID, "HAD COME FACE TO FACE WITH MICHELANGELO AND LOST."
"JACK NEVER DID ANYTHING THAT WAS UGLY" BENTON LOYALLY TOLD VISITORS BUT HE WAS PRIVATELY HURT BY HIS STUDENT'S GREAT SUCCESS.
HE ONCE SAID THAT THE ONLY THING HE TAUGHT JACKSON POLLOCK WAS HOW TO DRINK A FIFTH A DAY.
BUT IN MY OPINION THERE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A JACKSON POLLOCK IF THERE HADN'T BEEN A TOM BENTON.
THERE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A PAINTING LIKE "AUTUMN RHYTHM" IF THERE HADN'T BEEN TOM BENTON AND, THROUGH HIM, MICHELANGELO, AND RUBENS, AND OTHERS.
POLLOCK REBELLED AGAINST ALL THE DISCIPLINE OF REPRESENTATION BUT HE NEVER FORGOT THE MELODY.
Small: HE USED TO CALL TOM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, IT ALWAYS WAS ASKING-- WELL, REALLY BEGGING FOR TOM'S APPROVAL.
HE FELT ATTACHED TO HIM ALWAYS, I THINK.
AND TOM NEVER GAVE IT.
HE SAID, "JACK, IT'S ALL RIGHT, WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO.
"IT'S SUCCESSFUL, YOU'RE SUCCESSFUL.
DON'T BOTHER YOURSELF ABOUT IT, IT'S ALL RIGHT."
Announcer: ONE EVENING, AFTER BUSINESS HOURS TWO MEN ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF A GREAT MIDWESTERN STORE DISCUSS THE MAKING OF A MURAL TO ADORN THE SPACE ABOVE THE ELEVATOR ENTRANCES.
THEY ARE THE PRESIDENT OF THE STORE AND THOMAS HART BENTON ONE OF AMERICA'S LEADING PAINTERS.
HAVING DECIDED ON A SUBJECT THEY AGREE ON AN IMMEDIATE START OF THE WORK.
Narrator: BENTON TOOK WORK WHEREVER HE COULD FIND IT.
HE ILLUSTRATED BOOKS BY MARK TWAIN AND JOHN STEINBECK TRIED ADVERTISING ART, WORKED WITH WALT DISNEY ON SETS FOR AN OPERETTA ABOUT DAVY CROCKETT AND QUIT WHEN DISNEY INSISTED ON A HAPPY ENDING.
HE PAINTED SMALL MURALS FOR A KANSAS CITY DEPARTMENT STORE AND THE FASHIONABLE AND EXCLUSIVE KANSAS CITY RIVER CLUB.
EACH MURAL, HE ASSURED FRIENDS, WOULD BE HIS LAST.
Announcer: AND NOW FRAMED AND MOUNTED ON THE STORE'S WALL THE MURAL FULFILLS ITS FUNCTION... A LASTING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ART OF AMERICA AND OF THE WORLD.
HE SOMEHOW LOST TOUCH WITH THE CHANGES THAT AMERICA HAD GONE THROUGH.
IT WAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF SOCIETY, AND I THINK THAT BENTON WENT ON PAINTING SOME WONDERFUL PAINTINGS THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER BUT THERE ISN'T QUITE THAT SAME MAGICAL CONNECTION WITH HIS OWN CONCERNS AND WITH THE IDENTITY OF AMERICA.
WHEN HE MOVED TO THE LEFT APPARENTLY IN THE '20s IT WAS AS AGAINST THE "BOOB-OISIE" THEN IN THE LEFT, HE FOUND IT STIFLING AND INHOSPITABLE SO HE FIGHTS THEM, TOO.
AND HE IS FIGHTING CONSTANT BATTLES BETWEEN RIGHT AND LEFT FINDING, CHARTING HIS OWN COURSE FOR THIS MIDDLE AMERICAN ATHENS THAT HE DREAMED OF.
IT MUST HAVE BEEN DAMN DISAPPOINTING NOT TO HAVE HAD THAT HAPPEN.
J. Benton: I THINK WHAT HURT MY FATHER THE MOST-- AND HE USED TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT-- WAS LONELINESS.
HE SAID IT WAS HIS GREAT MOTIVATOR.
Ives: ♪ THE SANDS HAVE BEEN WHOOSHED FROM THE FOOTPRINTS ♪ ♪ OF THE STRANGER ON GALILEE'S SHORE ♪ ♪ AND THE VOICE THAT SUBDUED ♪ ♪ THE ROUGH BILLOWS ♪ ♪ WILL BE HEARD IN JUDEA NO MORE ♪ ♪ BUT THE PATH OF THAT LONE GALILEAN ♪ ♪ WITH JOY I WILL FOLLOW TODAY ♪ ♪ THE TOILS OF THE ROAD WILL SEEM NOTHING ♪ ♪ WHEN I GET TO THE END OF THE WAY... ♪ ♪ THE TOILS OF THE ROAD WILL SEEM NOTHING ♪ ♪ WHEN I GET TO THE END OF THE WAY.
♪ Narrator: BENTON SPENT NEARLY EVERY SUMMER IN THE TOWN OF CHILMARK ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD.
HIS FAMILY HAD GROWN TO INCLUDE A DAUGHTER, JESSIE.
J. Benton: HE HAD A WONDERFUL KIND OF GRUFFLY VOICE.
HE WAS VERY HANDSOME.
HE HAD A VERY RICH FACE AND WONDERFUL HAIR, BLACK AS COULD BE.
HE WAS 50 YEARS OLD WHEN I WAS BORN.
I THOUGHT HE WAS IN HIS 20s.
OTHER PEOPLE'S FATHERS WERE ALWAYS SO OLD AND KIND OF DRIED UP.
AND HE WAS SO YOUNG AND VIBRANT.
HE LIKED TO TALK BIG, AND HE HAD MILLIONS OF FRIENDS AND...
BUT EVERY DAY AT HOME IT WAS LIKE SILENCE.
WE HAD TO BE QUIET, MY BROTHER AND I, MOST OF THE TIME.
THE HOUSE WAS VERY STILL BECAUSE HE WAS VERY INTENSE AND HE THOUGHT ABOUT THINGS AND THOUGHT ABOUT HIS PAINTINGS AND...
I USED TO LOVE TO GO IN THAT STUDIO BECAUSE OF THE SMELLS OF THE PAINT MY FATHER USED TO WHISTLE WHEN HE PAINTED.
HE'D GO: ( whistles ) ALWAYS, CONSTANTLY.
IT WAS RICH BEING IN THERE AND I USED TO SIT ON THE FLOOR AND PAINT MY PICTURES WHICH HE WOULD PUT UP ON THE WALLS-- IF THEY WERE GOOD.
Narrator: WHEN HE WAS NOT PAINTING, HE MADE MUSIC WITH HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS AND STUDENTS.
( cheerful guitar and flute music ) YOU SEE, THE BENTON THAT HE BECAME HERE WAS A ROUTINE.
HE GOT UP IN THE MORNING EARLY, WENT TO HIS STUDIO NOBODY'S TO COME INTO HIS STUDIO BY 5:00.
HE THEN COMES OUT, HE MEETS HIS FRIENDS, HE HAS HIS DRINKS HE EATS, SO FORTH, AND GOES TO BED AND HE DOES THIS TIME AND TIME... THOSE HOURS IN HIS STUDIO, HE IS ALL ALONE.
T.H.
Benton: THE SUBJECT MATTER THAT FORMED THE CONTENT OF MOST OF MY PICTURES JUST DIED OUT AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
SMALL TOWNS EVERYWHERES WERE GETTING TO BE PRACTICALLY THE SAME.
THIS IS WHAT SENT ME CHASING HERE, BEGINNING IN THE '50s OUT IN THE LANDSCAPE OF THE UNITED STATES TO SEE IF I COULD FIND THE COUNTRY NOT THE TOWNS OR THE LIFE, BUT IN THE COUNTRY SOMETHING I COULD IDENTIFY MYSELF WITH.
I FOUND ENOUGH.
HE TOLD REXINE ONE TIME, HE SAID-- THAT'S MY WIFE-- HE SAID, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE TO DO?
"I LIKE TO FLOAT THE BUFFALO AND CAMP ON A SANDBAR AND GET DRUNK."
Narrator: HE BEGAN TRAVELING AGAIN SKETCHING THE GREAT PLAINS AND THE ROCKIES, FLOATING DOWNRIVER TURNING MORE AND MORE TO LANDSCAPE.
IN NATURE, HE FOUND NEW CHALLENGES AND A NEW SERENITY.
J. Benton: I LOVE HIS MOUNTAIN PICTURES.
HE TOOK MANY YEARS TO PAINT THE MOUNTAINS.
HE SAID IT WAS THE DAMNEDEST HARDEST THING HE EVER DID-- MOUNTAINS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO PAINT.
AND IT TOOK HIM YEARS TO FINALLY PAINT A PICTURE THAT HE WAS SATISFIED WITH.
THAT'S WHY HE PAID NO ATTENTION TO THESE CRITICS-- HE WOULD GET THINGS HE HAD TO DO AND WHILE THEY QUIBBLED OVER "PERSEPHONE" HE WAS IN WYOMING PAINTING THE TETONS FOR THREE, FOUR, FIVE YEARS.
Campanella: AS HE GROWS OLDER AND HE GETS INTO DETAIL HE'S PROJECTING HIMSELF INTO THE CANVAS.
HE'S NOT PROJECTING HIMSELF INTO LIFE.
HE GETS LIFE AND HE PUTS IT DOWN IN HIS EARLY YEARS.
IN HIS LATE YEARS HE'S PAINTING INTO HIS PICTURE; HE'S LOSING HIMSELF IN HIS PAINTING.
WHY?
HE'S A LONELY MAN.
THE ONLY FRIEND HE'S GOT IS HIS PAINTING AND HE PUTS A LOT INTO IT.
NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED IN HIS PAINTING, IN A SENSE.
THE MODERN WORLD WANTS TO LOOK INTO THE PAINTING AND SEE WHAT THEY WANT.
YOU LOOK INTO A BENTON PAINTING IN THE END YOU'LL SEE A VERY QUIET, POETIC MAN.
YOU'RE EITHER WITH HIM OR YOU'RE NOT WITH HIM.
BUT THE DEDICATION TO HIS CRAFT IS HONORABLE.
TO ME IT'S INSPIRING.
HE WORKED AT HIS BUSINESS, HE WORKED AT HIS CRAFT.
BY CRAFT I MEAN THE BUSINESS OF PUTTING DOWN PAINT DESIGNING THE PICTURE, COMPLETING THE PICTURE.
IT WAS A DAY-TO-DAY JOB, THOUGH PEOPLE THINK IT'S SOME EMOTIONAL THING COMES OUT OF THE SKY.
TO HIS WIFE, HE'S MAKING PICTURES TO SELL.
TO HIM, HE'S MAKING ANOTHER PAINTING WHICH HE FEELS IS MORE PERFECT THAN THE ONE BEFORE IT.
Narrator: "THE ONLY WAY AN ARTIST CAN PERSONALLY FAIL" BENTON SAID, "IS TO QUIT WORK."
THOMAS HART BENTON NEVER QUIT.
NEITHER DID RITA.
Woman: THEY FED EACH OTHER.
THEY KEPT ONE ANOTHER GOING.
Man: "TOM, STRAIGHTEN YOUR SHOULDERS.
YOU ACT LIKE AN OLD MAN."
HE'D STRAIGHTEN UP.
BUT SHE WAS THE ONE... SHE'D GO OUT TO THE STUDIO WE'D GO OUT THERE ON SUNDAY TO SEE WHAT HIS LATEST PROJECT OR PAINTING AND SHE WOULD JUST LOOK AT-- "TOM, YOU'RE MAGNIFICENT!"
BUT SHE'D JUST KEEP PUSHING AND PUSHING HIM, YOU KNOW AND FEEDING HIS EGO.
AND SHE WOULD ALSO SAY "IF YOU WANT HIM TO DO SOMETHING DON'T TELL HIM YOU WANT HIM TO DO IT" BECAUSE, SHE SAID, "HE'S STUBBORN "AND IF HE THINKS YOU WANT HIM TO DO IT, HE WON'T DO IT.
HE WANTS TO GET THE IDEA."
SO SHE WOULD MANIPULATE AROUND HIM.
T.H.
Benton: NOW I'M GOING TO INTRODUCE YOU TO MRS. BENTON, RITA AND JESSIE, OUR DAUGHTER.
Murrow: GOOD EVENING, MRS. BENTON.
GOOD EVENING, MR. MURROW.
GOOD EVENING.
Murrow: MRS. BENTON ARE YOU CALLED ON TO ASSIST TOM?
NO, I NEVER ASSIST HIM IN HIS WORK.
YOU HANDLE THE BUSINESS AFFAIRS, IS THAT RIGHT?
THAT'S RIGHT-- OCCASIONALLY I MAKE FRAMES.
J. Benton: SHE NEVER FALTERED FROM HER ONE PURPOSE, WHICH WAS HE WAS A GREAT ARTIST AND SHE SAVED ALL THE MONEY AND ALL THE PAINTINGS.
SOMETIMES MY FATHER WOULDN'T LIKE A PAINTING SO HE'D PAINT ANOTHER PAINTING OVER IT.
BUT SHE'D RUN IN THE STUDIO AND STEAL THEM BEFORE HE COULD DO THAT SO SHE COULD SELL THEM.
I DON'T THINK HE WOULD HAVE LIVED WITHOUT HER.
THE INCOMES, OF COURSE, WOULD VARY YEAR TO YEAR.
SOMETIMES WE WERE VERY POOR.
SOMETIMES WE HAD LOTS OF MONEY IF WE SOLD A PAINTING BUT THE LIFE IN THE HOUSE NEVER CHANGED AND THAT WAS MY MOTHER'S GENIUS.
SHE KEPT IT ALL SMOOTH.
Man: HE DIDN'T LIKE THE BUSINESS PART.
RITA TOOK CARE OF THAT.
IF YOU WANTED TO BUY A PAINTING, HE'D SAY, "I DON'T DO THAT.
"YOU WANT A PAINTING, YOU TALK TO RITA.
SHE MIGHT SELL YOU ONE."
Woman: SHE ALWAYS WATCHED OVER TOM AND TOOK CARE OF HIM AND PROTECTED HIM.
AND ON THIS PARTICULAR OCCASION A MAN CAME TO THE ISLAND AND CAME TO THEIR HOUSE AND SAID "OH, MRS. BENTON, I WANT SO MUCH TO BECOME A PART "OF THE ART COLONY ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD.
COULD YOU TELL ME ABOUT IT?"
AND RITA LOOKED AT HIM RATHER COLDLY AND SAID "THERE IS NO ARTIST ON THIS ISLAND BUT THOMAS HART BENTON" WHICH TOOK CARE OF THAT VERY COMPLETELY.
Murrow: TELL ME, WHAT THOMAS HART BENTON CREATION IS IN THE WORKS NOW?
WELL, THERE'S PLENTY IN THE WORKS.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE IT, YOU FOLLOW ME.
Murrow: GOOD.
JESSIE AND RITA, WE'LL SEE YOU LATER.
WE'RE OUT TO THE STUDIO.
LOOK OUT, JOE.
Murrow: HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND IN YOUR STUDIO?
T.H.
Benton: WELL, I SPEND ALL THE DAYLIGHT HOURS THERE, ED.
EVERY DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
I HAVE TO TO GET THE STUFF DONE.
Murrow: DID YOU HAVE YOUNG APPRENTICE ARTISTS HELP YOU?
T.H.
Benton: I HAVE NO APPRENTICE ARTISTS.
YOUNG ARTISTS NOW ARE TAUGHT IN SCHOOL THAT THEIR INDIVIDUAL SOULS ARE SO IMPORTANT THEY MIGHT DAMAGE THEM IF THEY HELPED AN OLD FELLOW LIKE ME-- OLD-FASHIONED PAINTER.
THAT'S THE GREAT TROUBLE WITH MODERN TEACHING-- EVERYBODY HAS TOO MUCH OF A SOUL.
Murrow: THIS STUDIO REALLY LOOKS WORKED IN.
IT IS WORKED IN.
TWO PROJECTS, BIG PROJECTS GOING ON HERE AT ONCE.
HERE IS ONE-- THE CARTOON, RATHER-- FOR THE NEW YORK STATE POWER AUTHORITY.
THIS PICTURE FINISHED WILL BE SEVEN FEET HIGH AND 20 FEET LONG.
OVER HERE, YOU SEE ONE ALSO IN PROCESS FOR THE TRUMAN MEMORIAL LIBRARY.
THIS IS 20 FEET HIGH AND 32 FEET LONG WHEN IT'S FINISHED.
SO THESE ARE THINGS THAT COST YOU A LITTLE WORK.
Narrator: IN 1959, HARRY S. TRUMAN ASKED BENTON TO PAINT A MURAL FOR HIS PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AT INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI.
TRUMAN CALLED BENTON "THE BEST DAMN PAINTER IN AMERICA."
J. Benton: I NEVER KNEW HIM BUT HE WAS LIKE AN OLD-TIME MISSOURI POLITICIAN AND MY FATHER WAS AN OLD-TIME MISSOURI POLITICIAN, TOO.
YOU KNOW, HE WAS SO INTERESTED IN POLITICS THAT I THINK I KNEW MORE ABOUT POLITICS BY THE TIME I WAS A TEENAGER THAN I KNEW ABOUT ART.
Kramer: TRUMAN THOUGHT HIGHLY OF BENTON, VERY HIGHLY AND HE ALSO DESCRIBED ABSTRACT PAINTING AS SCRAMBLED EGGS.
I ADMIRED HARRY TRUMAN VERY MUCH AS A PRESIDENT BUT HE'D BE ONE OF THE LAST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHOSE AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS I'D TAKE SERIOUSLY.
Small: HE INTERESTED TOM TREMENDOUSLY BECAUSE HE WAS A GREAT READER OF HISTORY AND HE KNEW HIS UNITED STATES HISTORY BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS AND SIDEWAYS AND THEY BOTH LIKED THE SAME KIND OF WHISKEY AND THEY LIKED EACH OTHER VERY MUCH.
T.H.
Benton: YOU DON'T GENERALLY SEE A MURAL ALL AT ONCE OR YOU MAY SEE IT ALL AT ONCE BUT YOU'RE LIKELY TO EXPLOIT IT BY LOOKING AT ONE PART AND FOLLOWING IT ALONG.
YOU MUST DESIGN A MURAL KNOWING THAT THE EYE IS GOING TO BE MOVING OVER THESE SPACES AND YOU ARRANGE IT SO THE EYE FOLLOWS CERTAIN LINES AND YOU HAVE A SENSE OF UNITY WHEN YOU GET THROUGH WITH IT.
Narrator: THE TRUMAN MURAL MADE BENTON BIG NEWS AGAIN AND HE LOVED IT.
HE TOURED EUROPE, ATTENDED NEW SHOWS OF HIS OLD WORK WON ELECTION TO THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS AND LEFT THE BANQUET BECAUSE HE DIDN'T LIKE ITS PRESIDENT'S SPEECH.
ASKED TO LECTURE ON THE AMERICAN ARTIST, HE STRODE ON STAGE ANNOUNCED THAT "THE ONLY AMERICAN ARTIST THAT INTERESTS ME IS THOMAS HART BENTON" AND SAT DOWN.
BUT HE DID MAKE HIS PEACE WITH THE MUSEUM WHICH HAD FIRED HIM.
Man: I SAID, "IN ANY DIVORCE THERE ARE TWO SIDES."
"WELL," HE SAID, "I BUY THAT."
I SAID, "THEY'D LIKE TO MAKE UP, AND MAYBE YOU WOULD TOO.
I'D LIKE TO GET YOU TOGETHER."
HE TURNED TO ME AND HE SAID "OKAY, JUST BRING THE SONS OF BITCHES OVER."
Narrator: HE COULD NOW EVEN AFFORD QUALIFIED SYMPATHY FOR THE ABSTRACTIONISTS WHO HAD SO RECENTLY ECLIPSED HIM.
"THE HUMAN FIGURE IS COMING BACK INTO FASHION" HE TOLD A REPORTER "AND WHAT ARE ALL THOSE SONS OF BITCHES GOING TO DO NOW?
THEY NEVER LEARNED HOW TO DRAW."
PARTICULARLY DURING THE YEARS OF POLLOCK'S GREAT TRIUMPHS BENTON WAS VERY MUCH ON THE ASH HEAP BUT I THINK HE'S BEEN COMING UP SINCE.
I THINK HE'S AN INTERESTING PAINTING.
REPRESENTATION IS BECOMING RESPECTABLE AGAIN.
Narrator: AT 82, HE PAINTED TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY JOPLIN AND WAS HONORED BY A "TOM BENTON DAY" IN THE TOWN WHERE HE FIRST EARNED MONEY AS AN ARTIST.
"OLD AGE IS A WONDERFUL THING," HE TOLD THE CROWD.
"YOU OUTLIVE YOUR ENEMIES."
IN 1974, BENTON UNDERTOOK ONE MORE MURAL FOR THE COUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION OF AMERICA.
T.H.
Benton: WELL, I DON'T THINK THE ARTIST CAN AT ANY TIME HELP BUT EXPRESSING HIS OWN INNER SELF.
I THINK THE LESS ATTENTION HE PAYS TO THAT THE BETTER OFF HE IS, BECAUSE HE CAN'T HELP THAT ANYHOW.
IT WOULD BE MY FEELING ABOUT THINGS THAT IF HE CAN GET OUT OF RETIREMENT AND INTO THE WORLD OF MEN, HE'S BETTER OFF.
Small: HE ALWAYS WENT TO THE STUDIO AFTER DINNER IN THE EVENING AND ON THIS PARTICULAR EVENING HIS WIFE THOUGHT THAT HE HAD STAYED AN AWFULLY LONG TIME.
SHE WENT OUT.
AND HE HAD SAID BEFORE HE LEFT THE HOUSE HE SAID, "I THINK IT'S FINISHED, I'M GOING TO SIGN IT TONIGHT."
WHEN SHE WENT OUT HE WAS LYING BESIDE THE RIGHT-HAND LOWER CORNER WITH HIS SPECTACLES ON, BUT HE HAD NOT SIGNED IT.
HE APPARENTLY DIED JUST AS HE WAS PREPARING TO SIGN IT.
HE DIED SO BEAUTIFULLY, YOU KNOW.
HE WENT OUT TO SEE HIS MURAL AND HE HAD JUST FINISHED IT THAT DAY AND HE WAS GOING OUT TO SIGN IT AND HE DECIDED NOT TO SIGN IT, OR HE DIDN'T GET TO SIGN IT BECAUSE, AS THE DOCTOR SAID, HE WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
I WAS REALLY UPSET.
IN FACT, WHEN THEY INTERRUPTED THE THING AND THEY SAID, "WE'RE SORRY TO ANNOUNCE..." I SAID TO MY WIFE, "TOM DIED."
AND HE DID.
( sobs quietly ) NOTHING LOST, NOTHING LOST.
TOM BENTON FINISHED A PAINTING CAME IN THE HOUSE, HAD HIS DINNER AND WENT OUT TO SIT IN HIS LITTLE CHAIR AND CHECKED HIS PAINTING AND FELL OVER DEAD.
IT'S AS COMPLETE A LIFE AS YOU CAN HAVE.
Narrator: THOMAS HART BENTON DIED ON JANUARY 19, 1975.
HE WAS 85 YEARS OLD.
Man: I CALLED RITA.
I SAID, "I THOUGHT THAT TOM WAS GOING TO LIVE FOREVER OR HE'D OUTLIVE US ALL."
AND I HEAR HER COME BACK WITH THIS FURIOUS LINE-- "HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED!
HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED..." J. Benton: OH, MY MOTHER.
IT WAS TERRIBLE.
SHE DIED THREE MONTHS LATER.
SHE COULDN'T-- SHE COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT HIM.
O'Maley: WE'RE HERE TO CELEBRATE THE 98th BIRTHDAY OF THE LATE THOMAS HART BENTON WHICH WE HAVE DONE EVERY YEAR SINCE HIS DEATH.
J. Benton: THE BENTON BOURBON BIRTHDAY BASH-- IT EMBARRASSES ME A LITTLE BIT.
ALL HIS FRIENDS AND I GUESS ADMIRERS GET TOGETHER AND HAVE A PARTY, AND THEY ALL GO TO KELLY'S BAR WHICH I DON'T THINK MY FATHER EVER WENT TO.
MY FATHER HATED BARS.
HE LIKED HIS PAINTINGS IN BARS.
( banjo playing, crowd chattering ) ♪ LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LISTEN TO MY SONG ♪ ♪ SING INTO THE NIGHT THOUGH YOU MIGHT BELIEVE IT'S WRONG ♪ ♪ MAY MAKE YOU MAD BUT I MEAN NO HARM ♪ ♪ JUST A BLOCK OF LETTUCE ON THE BENTON FARM ♪ ♪ HARD TIMES IN THE COUNTRY DOWN ON BENTON'S FARM.
♪ ( banjo and fiddle interlude ) HELLO.
Man: WHY ARE YOU HERE?
WE'RE HERE FOR THE BENTON BASH.
♪ HARD TIMES IN THE COUNTRY, OUT ON BENTON'S FARM ♪ ♪ HARD TIMES IN THE COUNTRY, DOWN ON BENTON'S FARM.
♪ ( song ends; applause and whistling ) IT'S ALWAYS DIFFICULT TO SUM UP THE WORK OF ANY ARTIST WHO HAS DIFFERENT FACES-- THAT HE WAS A REMARKABLE DESIGNER A COMPOSER IN FORM; THAT THERE WAS AN ELEMENT OF REALITY IN HIS WORK OF SUBSTANCE, OF WEIGHT; A FEELING THAT HIS ART EXISTED PHYSICALLY AND THAT, TO ME, IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ATTRIBUTES PAINTING CAN HAVE.
WELL, OF COURSE, BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER BUT HE PAINTED BEAUTY.
IT COULD BE AN OLD FARMER, IT COULD BE HOGS IT COULD BE AN OLD BEAT-UP STEAMBOAT BUT HE SAW THE BEAUTY OF THE... OH, THE NEED OF THESE THINGS.
THERE ISN'T ANY BEAUTY UNLESS THERE ARE FULFILLED NEEDS AND THERE IS NEED FOR PEOPLE THAT PICK COTTON THERE WAS A NEED FOR PEOPLE THAT WENT AROUND DOING MINSTREL SHOWS.
PEOPLE NEEDED THAT, AND HE WAS THERE AND HE SAW THE BEAUTY OF IT, AND HE RECORDED IT FOR US.
I THINK THAT PEOPLE HAD GREAT RESPECT FOR TOM.
MAYBE THEY DIDN'T ALWAYS LIKE WHAT HE DID BUT SOMEHOW THERE WAS A FEELING OF RESPECT FOR WHAT HE REPRESENTED IN PAINTING AND THAT WAS LASTING.
THAT WAS GOOD.
A PAINTER DOESN'T MAKE UP STORIES.
A REAL PAINTER, HE GOES OUT, HE SEES AMERICA.
HE DOESN'T TALK AMERICA, HE SEES AMERICA.
THE CRITICS TALK AMERICA THE CRITICS TALK ALL THE ARTS SINCE WORLD WAR II.
HE SEES IT.
NUMBER ONE, TO UNDERSTAND BENTON YOU HAVE TO SEE AMERICA, TOO.
NOW, SHORTLY AFTER WE CAME HERE WE WENT DOWN TO ARKANSAS AND BY JESUS, I LOOKED AROUND AND I SAID "BENTONISM-- THIS IS BENTON.
HE DIDN'T DO A DAMN THING, HE PAINTED WHAT HE SAW."
♪ Man: HOW SHALL WE REMEMBER BENTON?
I THINK WE WILL REMEMBER TOM BENTON AS AN ARTIST WHO GOT AWAY WITH MURDER.
( laughs ) Marling: I LIKE TOM BENTON'S FEISTINESS.
I LIKE TOM BENTON'S ENGAGEMENT WITH LIFE.
I LIKE TOM BENTON'S LUST FOR LIVING.
I LIKE HIS CARRYING ON.
I LIKE HIS EXCESSES.
THAT'S TREMENDOUSLY AMERICAN.
Interviewer: IF YOU COULD LIVE, INHABIT ONE BENTON PAINTING WHICH PAINTING WOULD YOU, LLOYD GOODRICH, INHABIT?
"PERSEPHONE"-- AFTER ALL, WHO COULD RESIST THAT GIRL?
