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 and a price list is included. Feel free to contact the gallery anytime. Enjoy the catalog -
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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 Benton
1. The Poet (1 of 3) (T.S. Eliot) Thomas Hart Benton 1937, Oil on tin 4.50 x 6.12 inches Portrait of a screen writer, study for ‘Hollywood Writer, The Poet’ Purchase includes the group of three including the painting, original drawing and lithograph. Benton’s use of oil on tin has an interesting origin. The father of his wife Rita was an Italian copper and tin worker, and Benton picked up the habit of making paintings on scraps that were left over from his projects. T.S. Eliot (below) was a poet, essayist, playwright, literary critic and editor.
2. Hollywood Writer, The Poet (2 of 3) Thomas Hart Benton 1937, Ink, ink wash, gouache, and graphite on paper 8.50 x 10.50 inches Signed lower left ‘Benton’ “...I was taken around to see a writer. He was a young man. He knew that he was on exhibit and was a little embarrassed. So was I. I was afraid the fellow guiding me was going to ask him to write so I could see how it was done.” - Thomas Hart Benton, Hollywood Journey
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3. The Poet (3 of 3) Thomas Hart Benton 1938, Lithograph 8.87 x 12.37 inches Edition of 75, signed lower right ‘Benton’
HOLLYWOOD DRAWINGS
4. Conference (William Faulkner), Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper, Plate 63, 10.75 x 13.75 inches By 1932, MGM Studios offered William Faulkner work as a screenwriter in Hollywood. He was not an avid movie-goer and had reservations about the movie industry. From 1932 to 1954, Faulkner worked on around 50 films. In Hollywood, he worked with director Howard Hawks, and his brother William Hawks became Faulkner’s agent. “Another Hollywood figure captured by Benton is the author William Faulkner, pictured with his signature pipe...’” - Janet C. Blyberg, American Epics, Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood
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5. Makeup Artist Thomas Hart Benton c. 1937, Ink wash and graphite on paper 17.75 x 14.00 inches Left and below: Ern Westmore and Bette Davis
“There isn’t a woman in the world that cannot be made more beautiful.” - Ern Westmore Ern Westmore was known as the Westmore said to be the best in the business with the ‘finest hand.’ Ern began his career at Warner Brothers in 1925 and took a position as the head of the makeup department at RKO Studios in 1930. He then left in 1931 to partner with Max Factor and worked with him until 1934. When the House of Westmore opened in 1935, he became the manager of the salon and was in charge of the makeup department at 20th Century Fox. Of the prominent Westmore family, Ern and his brother Perc opened the House of Westmore beauty salon in 1935 on Sunset Boulevard. Ern and his brother Perc completed makeup for stars such as Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Merle Oberon, Olivia de Havilland, Brenda Marshall and Lauren Bacall. In October, 2008, the Westmore family received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work in the motion picture industry.
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6. Private Lives (Stars Homes), Thomas Hart Benton, c. 1935-40, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper, 12.75 x 10.25 inches
Tours would take place along the Sunset Strip in the 1930-1940s, providing a glimpse into how the stars lived at the time. This is a rare shot of the Sunset Strip taken in 1937. The tour guide is standing at 8245 Sunset. Who was Harry? The question was answered by Benjamin Appel, a writer of crime fiction and author of The People Talk, an oral history of the Great Depression. Appel interviewed Harry and described his sign and stand noting the signs were lettered in red, white and blue with Harry in the middle of them sitting under a beach umbrella. He was known as the guy who knew ‘where the stars lived.’
“That’s quite a number of years ago. I used to know a lot of Hollywood people... Friends of mine used to ask me where the stars lived and I used to tell them. Now when they ask me, they pay me...I’ve had from the highest to the lowest, people who had to scrape up the three bucks they paid me to see the stars’ homes.” - Harry, The Guide
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7. Conference Table or Director’s Meeting 20th Century-Fox Studio, Thomas Hart Benton, 1937 Ink, ink wash on paper, Plate 65,10.75 x 13.75 inches, *subjects unidentified “In the Hollywood Story Conference picture [Conference Table] it’s easy enough to see who is boss, who is being yessed, who is the Napoleon of the situation. And whether it’s easy to see or not, you should be able to guess that the associate conferees when they leave the big table are due for some kind of headaches that is the lot of ordinary business associates when they leave Napoleons.” - Thomas Hart Benton, Hollywood Journey visit us online at kiechelart.com
8. Aspirants’ Party: Cocktails and Astrology Thomas Hart Benton, c. 1935-40 Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper 10.50 x 13.25 inches *subjects unidentified top right image: notated by artist ‘The Aspirants Party: Cocktails and Astrology’
9. Two Women Admiring Will Rogers Thomas Hart Benton 1937, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper 10.25 x 14.75 inches William Penn Adair Rogers was an American stage and film actor and vaudeville performer. In the mid-1930s, Rogers was hugely popular in the United States for his leading political wit and was the higest paid of Hollywood film stars. Rogers made 48 silent movies, and appeared in 21 feature films alongside such performers as Lew Ayres, Billie Burke, Richard Cromwell, Jane Darwell, Andy Devine, Hattie McDaniel and more. visit us online at kiechelart.com
10. Blondes at the Beach, Thomas Hart Benton, c. 1938, Ink, ink wash and graphite, 10.75 x 13.75 inches *subjects unidentified visit us online at kiechelart.com
11. Member of the Chorus Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper Plate 66, 14.00 x 10.75 inches, *subject unidentified
12. Resting on the Set (Two Girls), Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper, 13.75 x 10.75 inches *subjects unidentified
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13. Santa Monica Beach California Thomas Hart Benton c. 1938, Ink, ink wash and graphite 10.75 x 13.75 inches *subjects unidentified
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14. Cutting Room, Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper, 7.75 x 6.00 inches, *subject unidentified
“The Hollywood notes [drawings] show an artist intensely interested in the process of making movies, from the film equipment and the people behind the scenes - set builders, dress designers, film editors, scriptwriters - to the business of filmmaking.” - Leo G. Mazow, American Epics, Machinery of the Industry visit us online at kiechelart.com
15. Set Designing, Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Ink, ink wash and graphite on paper, 13.50 x 11.00 inches *subject unidentified
“Part of the visceral appeal of the Hollywood drawings - such as Untitled (Movie Camera) and Untitled (Movie Set), resides in the almost obsessive attention to detail.” - Leo G. Mazow, American Epics, Machinery of the Industry visit us online at kiechelart.com
16. Untitled (Movie Camera), Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Graphite on paper, 10.75 x 7.38 inches “Other parts of the [Hollywood] painting have their bold color combinations, dramatic foreshortening, and strong lighting, but this somewhat shaded, relatively small passage reminds us of a critical strain in Benton’s paintings and drawings, and one that dominates his Hollywood pictures: the integration of linear details into a dynamic but orderly whole. These dual, interdependent objectives are found in various measures throughout the artist’s oeuvre, but they are especially evident in the Hollywood drawings of cameras, microphones, lights and film - and sound-editing equipment.’” - Leo G. Mazow, American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood
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17. Untitled (Movie Set), Thomas Hart Benton, 1937, Graphite on paper, 13.75 x 10.75 inches “Benton occasionally copared composing art to ‘making sentences’ and finding suitable ‘linguistic forms,’ and the loose markings in a drawing like Untitled Movie Set suggest an analogous exercise, in which the foreground equipment and workers bring to life the as-yet-unseen action at right.” - Leo G. Mazow, American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood visit us online at kiechelart.com
Additional artwork at kiechelart.com
Cowboy at the Well Thomas Hart Benton 1946, 7.00 x 7.00 inches Keith Farm (double-sided work) Thomas Hart Benton 1951, 8.13 x 10.88 inches Original Rita Benton frame verso grisaille of Martha’s Vineyard (below)
gallery@kiechelart.com 402.420.9553 Kiechel Fine Art 1208 O Street Lincoln, NE 68508 Artsy | AskArt | ArtNet
Benton Farm Thomas Hart Benton 1972, 11.00 x 13.80 inches
Kiechel Fine Art 1208 O St Lincoln, NE 68508 402.420.9553 gallery@kiechelart.com