Spring on the Missouri
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
American, 1889–1975
Date1945
MediumOil and tempera on Masonite panel
Dimensions30 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. (76.8 x 102.2 cm)
Frame: 37 x 47 in. (94 x 119.4 cm)
Frame: 37 x 47 in. (94 x 119.4 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina
Object number77.1.3
On View
On viewAngeles; to son, William Marx, Los Angeles, 1962[?]; [ACA Galleries, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1977.
Published References"Chicago to Preview Benton Art," Minneapolis Daily Times (February 23, 1946), mentioned 5.
Edith Weigle, "The Art of Thomas Hart Benton," Chicago Daily Tribune (March 24, 1946), illus. C10.
"Harpo Buys a Benton," Art Digest 20 (April 1, 1946). 11.
Thomas Hart Benton, “A Chronology of My Life,” in Thomas Hart Benton (exhibition catalogue) (Lawrence, KS, The University of Kansas Museum of Art, 1958), mentioned as “Flood Time.” (Catalogue only, not in exhibition.)
Thomas Hart Benton, An American in Art: A Professional and Technical Autobiography (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1969), illus. (b-w) 110 (as Missouri Spring (Flood of 1937), early 1940's, collection of Harpo Marx).
Matthew Baigell, Thomas Hart Benton (New York: Abrams, 1973), illus. (b-w) pl. 181 (as Missouri Spring, 1948, whereabouts unknown).
(artist's obituary). New York Post (January 20, 1974), 3, 49, illus. (b-w) (incorrectly dated).
"Principales Acquisitions des Musées en 1977," Supplement to Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1310 (March 1977), no. 266.
Edgar Peters Bowron, ed. Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill, published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 273.
Donald E. Riesenberg, "The Cover." JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) 225 (11 April 1986), 1860, illus. (color) cover.
Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992) illus. (color) 265.
Robert Morgan, "Thomas Hart Benton and the Thresholds of Expression," in The Store of Joys, Huston Paschal, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1997), 67-70, illus. (color) 67." Reprinted in Southern Cultures 3 (1997), 38-42, illus. (b-w) 38 (also color).
John W. Coffey, entry for Spring on the Missouri, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 223, illus. (color).
Melissa Clement, "Nature and her many faces on display in landscape show," (exhibition review), Fayetteville Observer-Times (December 4, 1998), mentioned and illus. 19.
World Views: How Artists See the Earth. Newspapers in Education (supplement to the Raleigh News and Observer, n.d.), 13, illus. (color) 13.
M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 287, no. 17 (May 1, 2002), discussed 2185, illus. (color) 2185, 2175, and cover.
Shallow Creek: Thomas Hart Benton and American Waterways (exhibition catalogue) (University Park, PA: Palmer Museum of Art, 2007), mentioned 26, illus. (b-w) 27, and (color) 47, pl. 9 (catalogue only, not in exhibition).
Karen C. Kelly, "Kings, Comedians, and Captains of Industry: Trails of Art Ownership," in Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (Spring 2008), discussed 11, illus. (color) 10.
John W. Coffey, entry for Spring on the Missouri, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 462, illus. (color) 463, also mentioned and illus. (color) 15.
American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood (exhibition catalogue), Austen Baron Bailly, ed. (Munich, London, and New York: Delmonico Books/Prestel, 2015), illus. (color) 102, pl. 51.
Belle Boggs, "Spring on the Missouri" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 134.Exhibition HistoryChicago, IL Associated American Artists Galleries, "Thomas Hart Benton," February 27-March 16, 1946, no. 2.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Recent Acquisitions," December 17, 1978-January 28, 1979.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, Mary Duke Biddle EducationGallery, "Of Time and Space: Motion in Art," September 1985-September 1986.
Wilmington, NC, St. John's Museum of Art, "Inventing the American Landscape: A Dialogue with the Visual World," April 25-June 28, 1998; Hickory, NC, The Hickory Museum of Art, September 12-November 8, 1998; Fayetteville, NC, Fayetteville Museum of Art, November 22, 1998-January 17, 1999; Greenville, NC, Greenville Museum of Art, March 10-April 30, 1999, brochure, illus. (Outreach exhibition).
Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, “American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood,” June 6–September 7, 2015; Kansas City, MO, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, October 10, 2015–January 3, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, February 6–May 1, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee Art Museum, June 9–September 5, 2016, illus. (color) 102, pl. 51.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement
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