Study for 'City Activities with Subway'
Thomas Hart Benton American
Not on view
Benton created this compositional study of urban activities and pastimes in preparation for executing a panel in his large mural, America Today, also in the Museum’s collection (2012.478a–j). This study captures the forms, color contrasts, and highlights of the finished panel and sets the outlines for the aluminum-leaf frame moldings that split the scenes. In the panels, Benton made slight adjustments and connected the figures in interesting ways. Here, for example, the four figures riding the subway are roughly outlined, but in the mural they physically connect in a provocative manner—a hand grazes a knee, shoulders are jammed together.
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