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keywordPath%20%3D%20%22GXVA%22%20and%20Disp_Obj_Type%20%3D%20%22Painting%22
Painting
Boomtown
Thomas Hart Benton, 1889 - 1975
Benton, Thomas Hart
United States
1889 - 1975
Male
46 1/8 x 54 1/4 in. (117.2 x 137.8 cm)
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overall framed size
horizontal
frame
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without frame
Egg yolk and oil
Egg yolk and oil
1928
1928
1928
1900-2000, 20th century, American Scene/Regionalism, cityscapes, Encyclopedia Britannica Collection, paintings
Painting
Early in his career, Thomas Hart Benton was involved in the American abstract movement, Synchromism. In the 1920s, Benton embarked on a style that incorporated Synchromist rhythmic line and expressive color with representational imagery of rural America. With this major shift in style, Benton established the Regionalist movement. Many consider Boomtown to be the artist’s first Regionalist masterpiece.
[Gallery label text, 2007]
Boomtown is one of the masterpieces of the Gallery's collection because of its impressive and unique depiction of an American landscape. When Thomas Hart Benton sketched this panoramic scene from a second floor window, the smoky fire on the horizon signified progress, not pollution. Borger, Texas was a boomtown that sprang to life in 1926 after a refinery company hit a gusher that produced 5000 gallons of oil a day.
Benton is one of the three major American Regionalists (the other two are Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry), so called because most of their subjects were about life in the rural heartland of America.
While Benton was not a fan of contemporary modernist painting, and in fact disdained artists who painted in the abstract style, he couldn't help but be influenced by the curvy and streamlined aesthetic of his times and the way in which artists were reinterpreting three-dimensional space. Consider the way in which the people, buildings and landscape are layered from top to bottom on the canvas, rather than being laid out carefully from front to back in the manner of traditional artistic renderings.
[Gallery label text, 2006]
lower right
1951.1
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Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
51.1TR1
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Memorial Art Gallery
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Memorial Art Gallery
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7/10/2000
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6/11/2009
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Painting
Bar Scene
Douglas Warner Gorsline, (Rochester, NY, 1913 - 1985, Dijon, France)
Gorsline, Douglas Warner
United States
1913 - 1985
Male
Primary
29 1/2 x 25 1/4 in. (74.9 x 64.1 cm)
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overall
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1942
1942
1942
1900-2000, 20th century, American Scene/Regionalism, by Rochester artists, paintings, Realism
Painting
lower right
1942.19
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Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
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Memorial Art Gallery
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6/23/2000
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Painting
Self-Portrait in a Chinese Hat
Douglas Warner Gorsline, (Rochester, NY, 1913 - 1985, Dijon, France)
Gorsline, Douglas Warner
United States
1913 - 1985
Male
22 1/16 x 17 15/16 in. (56 x 45.5 cm)
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overall
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Oil
Oil
0
0
1900-2000, 20th century, American Scene/Regionalism, artists, by Rochester artists, men, paintings, Realism, self portraits
Painting
Originally from Rochester, the painter and writer Douglas Gorsline attended the Art Students League in New York City and taught at the National Academy of Design. He was profoundly influenced by the artistic styles of cubism and realism. He tended to use fragmented compositions as a means of depicting reality, in particular reality combined with movement.
[Forman Gallery, Summer 2015]
lower right
1993.36
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Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
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7/7/2015
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Painting
The Opposition
William Gropper, 1897 - 1977
Gropper, William
United States
1897 - 1977
Male
28 x 38 in. (71.1 x 96.5 cm)
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overall framed size
horizontal
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1942
1942
1942
1900-2000, 20th century, American Scene/Regionalism, Encyclopedia Britannica Collection, men, paintings, politics in art, Social Realism
Painting
William Gropper satirized the United States Senate in The Opposition as lawmakers were threatening to cut significant federal funding for the arts. Gropper wrote, “I have portrayed the type of representative that is opposed to progress and culture. The U.S. Senate…[has] such an influence on American life, good and bad, that it has even affected the artist and the cultural development of our country.”
William Gropper supported himself with his political cartoons, satirical drawings, and illustrations, most of which pointed out how the burdens of society were largely borne by the working class.
[Gallery label text, 2024]
Lawmakers were threatening to cut significant federal funding for the arts when political cartoonist and painter William Gropper satirized the United States Senate in The Opposition. Gropper wrote, “I have portrayed the type of representative that is opposed to progress and culture. The U.S. Senate…[has] such an influence on American life, good and bad, that it has even affected the artist and the cultural development of our country.”
[Gallery label text, 2007]
William Gropper was best known for his caustic commentary on the American political and social scene. He depicted realistic and identifiable subjects; The Opposition was one of a number of paintings and illustrations that came out of his 1934 assignment for the magazine Vanity Fair, to sketch legislators in action in Washington. Gropper made no bones about his distaste for politics and used his art to further his point of view:
"I have portrayed the type of representative that is opposed to progress and culture. The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives have had such an influence on American life, good and bad, that it has even affected the artist and the cultural development of our country. No matter how far removed from politics artists may be, it seems to strike home. Only recently one blasting speech of a reactionary representative resulted in not only doing away with the Section of Fine Art, but also dismissing the Graphic Division of the OWI [Office of War Information] and nullifying art reportage for the War Department."
Gropper's start as a newspaper illustrator informed the creative processes of the rest of his life. His work retained his journalist's interest in issues of the day, giving it a particularly topical essence presented in a dynamic, expressionistic format.
[Gallery label text, 2006]
lower left
1951.5
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
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Memorial Art Gallery
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Memorial Art Gallery
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7/14/2000
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Memorial Art Gallery
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Painting
Oak Tree
John Steuart Curry, 1897 - 1946
Curry, John Steuart
United States
1897 - 1946
Male
41 x 31 in. (104.1 x 78.7 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
frame
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without frame
Oil
Oil
1939
1939
1939
1900-2000, 20th century, American Scene/Regionalism, horses, landscapes, paintings, trees in art
Painting
John Steuart Curry frequently painted rural scenes from his home state, Kansas. This quiet, pastoral image of a horse and her foal enjoying the shade of a great oak tree is representative of Curry’s Regionalist style.
[Gallery label text, 2007]
lower right
1996.97
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/9/1999
96.97TR1
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Memorial Art Gallery
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96.97_
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Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
6/19/2001
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Painting
Negro Head
John Steuart Curry, (Dunavant, KS, 1897 - 1946, Madison, WI)
Curry, John Steuart
United States
1897 - 1946
Male
24 x 18 1/2 in. (61 x 47 cm)
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approximate installation dimensions
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vertical
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Oil
Oil
1927
1927
1927
1.97L
1900-2000, 20th century, American Scene/Regionalism, Images of Black People, men, paintings, portraits
Painting
Until research identifies the sitter, Portrait of a Youth or Portrait of a Young Man may be applied as a more appropriate title.
Unfortunately, the name of this young man was not recorded. The title that the work has carried for many years is further dehumanizing. In the historical moment when this painting was made and exhibited, the term “negro” was commonly used—including by significant African American figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Langston Hughes—to refer to a Black person. Today, however, this terminology is outdated and inappropriate.
John Steuart Curry is known for his narrative and landscape paintings of life in his home state of Kansas. When he painted this luminous portrait, he had just returned from studying art in Paris, France.
[Gallery label text, 2024]
yes, lower right
2005.31
item
Memorial Art Gallery
5/10/2000
2005.31DI1
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6/22/2010
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