Thomas hart benton cities activities (D)

Who painted ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ and when?

Thomas Hart Benton in 1930-31

Where and when was Thomas Hart Benton born?

Missouri in 1889

Where did Benton first study before Paris?

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

When did Benton study in Paris?

1908-11

Where did Benton study from 1908-11?

Paris

Who did Benton meet studying in Paris?

Diego Rivera, a later leader of the Mexican muralist movement

When did Benton move to NY as a set designer and painter of movie backdrops?

1913

Where did Benton move to in 1913?

NY

What did Benton work as in NY 1913?

a set designer and painter of movie backdrops

The scale required for his work in 1913 accustomed Benton to what?

painting large compositions that would come to his murals in 1920s-30s

T/F Although he studied abroad and took inspo from European works, Benton’s approach was Americanist

true

What was Benton’s goal in his works?

foster a national art focusing on themes, stories, and characters from a pluralistic American society

What was Benton’s family politically?

conservative

Who of Benton’s relatives was a senator known for his nativist policies?

his great uncle and namesake

Benton’s great uncle was what?

a senator known for nativist policies

What was Benton affiliated with politically in the 1920s?

Socialist movement

When and why did Benton disavow the Socialist movement

1930s to embrace more moderate politics

from what years did Benton teach at the Arts Students League in NYC?

1926-1935

Benton taught where from 1926-1935?

Arts Students League in NYC

Who was one of Benton’s students from NYC?

Jackson Pollock

Despite his international travels, what kind of artist is Benton considered?

Midwestern

Why is Benton considered a Midwestern artist?

he chose to paint rural or regional subjects at a time when most focused on big East and West city coasts

Benton spent the later part of his career where, doing what?

Missouri, teaching at the Art Institute of Kansas City

Benton’s figural style has what kind of forms?

exaggerated and elongated

Benton’s figural style with elongated forms moved towards what in the later part of his career?

abstraction

despite moving towards abstraction in the later part of his career, Benton’s art remained what?

narrative and illustrative showing themes from modern life and American history

When did Benton die?

1975

Who photographed Benton?

Carl Van Vechten

‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ is from what series?

America Today

‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ is a dramatic representation of what?

Prohibition Era seen through the lens of urban popular entertainments

T/F ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ was painted during an important transitional part of Benton’s career

true

When did Benton complete a decade-long project comprising 14 paintings on aluminum panels?

1928

In 1928, what did Benton complete?

a project comprising 14 paintings on aluminum panels, known as American Historical Epic (1919-1928)

“American Historical Epic” was one of the first artworks by a European American artist to look critically at what?

histories of colonialism against Native Americans and enslavement of Black Americans

Who described “American Historical Epic” as extremely shocking (as a compliment)?

artist Boardman Robinson

Robinson described “American Historical Epic” as what?

extremely shocking

T/F “American Historical Epic” never sold during Benton’s lifetime

true

“American Historical Epic” set Benton’s career on the trajectory that would do what?

sustain the rest of his life, representing narratives from an American mythology through the lens of social history

Social history stresses what?

how historical events interface with the lives of ordinary people

When and who did Benton receive his first major mural commission?

1930 from the New School for Social Research in NY

What was Benton’s first major mural commission?

a series of 10 panels showing contemporary life, tech, agriculture, and industry around the country, now known as America Today

Who was the New School for Social Researcher’s director during Benton’s painting?

economist Alvin Johnson

What is Johnson doing in the lower right corner of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

clinking glasses with Benton

Where is Johnson located in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

lower right corner

When was the New School for Social Research founded?

1919

What was the New School for Social Research known for?

its progressive agenda

Who was counted among the New School for Social Research’s founders?

educator John Dewey and sociologist Thorstein Veblen

How was Benton paid for ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

with dozens of eggs needed to prepare the egg-yolk based tempera paint

How long did it take for Benton to complete the New School’s commission?

9 months

The America Today murals were conceptualized as what?

a full-room installation that would enwrap the walls of the 3rd-floor boardroom in the school’s new building opening in 1931

What happened to the ‘America Today’ murals in 1982?

they were sold due to economic pressures with the stipulation that the collection would never be broken up

When were the ‘American Today’ murals sold?

1982

Since what year have the ‘America Today’ murals been installed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

2014

Since 2014, the ‘America Today’ murals have been installed where?

in a specially designed space in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The 10 panels of the America Today murals stretch at what height?

7 ft 8 in tall

America Today murals present a massive panorama of American life in what time period?

early 1930s

Each panel from America Today contains multiple scenes broken up by what?

Art Deco-inspired angular frames coated in gleaming aluminum leaf

Who designed the frames in America Today’s panels, and why?

architect Joseph Urban, to blend with the design of the New School’s new building

Where was ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ placed in the room?

right side of the room’s doorway

How long is ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

9 ft, 9 in long

Where is the focal point of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

There is none

What parts of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ are hallmarks of Benton’s hectic and expressionistic style?

the busy energy and interlocking scenes swirling with figures

What was more important than Aesthetic experimentation to Benton?

subject matter

‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ represents many elements of what time period culture?

roaring twenties

What is located in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’s upper right?

circus performers, including clowns and an aerialist in a red leotard

What does the circus in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ refer to?

the popularity of traveling circuses in the 1900-20s

The traveling circuses, aside from Benton, was also an artistic subject for who?

his contemporaries Charles Demuth, Walt Kuhn, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Reginald Marsh

What is below the flying trapeze performer in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

a young women in a red hat seated at a soda fountain

Soda fountains emerged when?

around the turn of the 20th century

Soda fountains emerged as what?

places for women to take refreshment while shopping in urban retail and seen as safe compared to bars

What is the soda drinking women in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ surrounded by?

ads for soap, mystery novels, cigarettes, and politics

What do the ads surrounding the woman in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ convey?

the saturation of urban spaces with ads and the desire to turn everything into a commodity

The center of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ is dominated by what?

the vignette of women watching a movie in a theater

What is under the movie scene in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

a mother and child visiting the pediatrician

What is the only reference to the New School’s mission in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

the scene of a mother and child visiting a doctor, pointing to Progressive-Era gains in childhood nutrition and vaccination programs

What is the most eye-catching part of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

the left side, reflecting the excesses of the Jazz age

How does the left side of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ reflect on the excesses of the Jazz age?

by commenting on the traffic in illegal liquor that fueled the dance halls and bars in the 1920s

What on the left side of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall’ refers to the atmosphere of wild speculation and investment during the roaring 20s?

a ticker tape machine

What does a ticker tape machine do?

provide real-time updates on the stock market

What is next to the ticker tape machine in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

outstretched hands reaching for bottles

What does Benton show on the largest part of ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

a red dressed flapper and her partner dancing to music from a live band

What is below the red dressed flapper’s feet in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

a table holding bottles and a still

what is a still?

the apparatus used to ferment hard liquor

What does Benton comment on the open secret of the Jazz Age in ‘City Activities with Dance Hall?’

Despite legal Prohibition, drinking mostly went unchecked

Who watched agents pour liquor into a sewer following a 1921 raid?

NYC Deputy Police Commissioner John A. Leach

When did Leach watch his agents pour liquor down a sewer?

following a 1921 raid

When was the 18th amendment to the Constitution proposed?

1917

what amendment was proposed in 1917?

18th

When did the Volstead Act go into effect?

early 1920 after the 18th amendment’s ratification

What did anti-alcohol temperance activists claim drinking did?

caused violence, destroyed family life, compromised industrial safety, and decayed working-class communities

How long did the US make manufacturing, selling, and importing alcohol illegal?

14 years

The Volstead Act did what?

enforced the 18th amendment

During the Prohibition Era, it was illegal to manufacture, sell, or import what?

spirits, beer, and wine

T/F local production of wine on a small scale for home consumption was still legal during the 18th amendment

true

What was bootlegging?

illegal importation of liquor

What were speakeasies?

underground clubs serving illegal liquor that emerged as new sites of urban entertainment in the 1920s

The ban on alcohol led to a sharp rise in what?

organized crime

Crime bosses would import mass quantities of liquor from where?

Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean

Who wrote that prohibition pushed criminals to use business techniques like payrolls, modern communications, and coordinated management?

urban historians Howard Chudacoff and Judith Smith