Hollywood Drawings | Thomas Hart Benton

A Note from Kiechel Fine Art

The drawings in this catalog are from Benton’s trip to Hollywood in the summer of 1937 while at 20th Century Fox Studios. This group of drawings was collected over several decades with all works having a direct provenance to Tom and Rita Benton.

Many of the works were part of the 2015 Benton traveling exhibition ‘American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood’ organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in collaboration with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

The subjects in the drawings were people Benton came into contact with while at 20th Century Fox; namely T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, and Will Rogers. I am actively trying to identify the various parties in each drawing and welcome your input.

All works are for sale. Contact the gallery with questions & inquiries at gallery@kiechelart.com or 402-420-9553.

Enjoy the catalog-

Buck Kiechel, Kiechel Fine Art

A Tour of Hollywood | Drawings by Thomas Hart Benton

“Some while back [in 1937], Thomas Benton, the highly-rated American artist, was despatched to the West Coast to paint a composite picture of life in Hollywood. The half-dozen drawings reproduced in this portfolio are among the by-products of that mission to Hollywood. They range from sketches on the spot to labored elaborations of sketches. The artist’s base of operations was the couch in the luxuriously appointed office of Raymond Griffith, one of the producers for 20th Century Fox. From this couch he made forays into the vast departmentalized domain that is a major moving picture studio, and also a little beyond.” – Harry Salpeter, A Tour of Hollywood: Drawings by Thomas Hart Benton