Thomas Hart Benton's America by Buck Kiechel.
Missouri State Capitol. Architecture, paintings, and statuary[edit] Statue of Thomas Jefferson, South Entrance The Missouri State Capitol is notable for its architectural features, including its eight 48-foot (15 m) columns on the south portico and six 40-foot (12 m) columns on the north side; its 30-foot (9 m)-wide grand stairway and its bronze front doors, each 13 by 18 feet (5 m)—at the time, the largest cast since the Roman era. The structure also features a whispering gallery high within the dome; a small viewing platform is on the dome's roof beneath the statue of Ceres.
These areas are not normally open to the public except for special tours and school tours. The capitol is Jefferson City's leading tourist attraction. It is a destination for school groups who arrive by busloads, particularly during General Assembly sessions. Students fill the galleries to watch the Senate and House of Representatives in action. History of structure[edit] Missouri State Capitol building (north) Missouri State Capitol.
Fiddles, Harmonicas, and Banjos: Thomas Hart Benton and His Role in ... - Annett Claudia Richter. Jackson Pollock. Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956), known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his unique style of drip painting. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety, a major artist of his generation.
Regarded as reclusive, he had a volatile personality, and struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner, who became an important influence on his career and on his legacy.[1] Pollock died at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related, single-car accident; he was driving. In December 1956, several months after his death, Pollock was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. A larger, more comprehensive exhibition of his work was held there in 1967. Early life[edit] Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912,[4] the youngest of five sons. Marriage and family[edit] George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver (by January 1864[1][3] – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor.
The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born into slavery in Missouri in January 1864.[1] Carver's reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts.[4] He also developed and promoted about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin. He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP. Early years College At Tuskegee. Mariah Watkins. Mariah Watkins Midwife – MARIAH SCALES WAS BORN about 1824. During the Civil War, she served as a nurse and was known to have kept very high standards in her profession.
At that time, babies were born at home. There were no telephones. When a baby’s birth was imminent, someone was sent for ”Aunt Mariah.“ She arrived promptly always carrying her black ”doctor bag.“ She was always dressed in a black dress and hat with an immaculate white apron of crocheted lace tied around her waist. Watkins was a black woman who was highly respected as a very efficient midwife for two generations in Newton County. She is believed to have delivered more than 500 babies in Neosho. Her influence in the life of George Washington Carver is well known. Synchromism. Synchromism was an art movement founded in 1912 by American artists Stanton MacDonald-Wright (1890-1973) and Morgan Russell (1886-1953). Their abstract "synchromies," based on an approach to painting that analogized color to music, were among the first abstract paintings in American art.
Though it was short-lived and did not attract many adherents, Synchromism became the first American avant-garde art movement to receive international attention.[1] One of the difficulties inherent in describing Synchromism as a coherent style is connected to the fact that some Synchromist works are purely abstract while others include representational imagery. Theory and style[edit] The abstract "synchromies" are based on color scales, using rhythmic color forms with advancing and reducing hues. They typically have a central vortex and explode in complex color harmonies. The Synchromists avoided using atmospheric perspective or line, relying solely on color and shape to express form. History[edit]
Portrait of the Artist Before and After. There was probably no better time for Thomas Hart Benton to write his autobiography than in 1937. An Artist in America describes Benton’s life and thoughts, his tumultuous role in the art world, and his plans for further glory, all with the bravado of an artist at the height of his renown. By the mid 1930s, Benton may well have been the most famous artist in America and, for all he squawked about money in his book, probably the best paid. When he published his life story, Benton was only forty-eight years old. Life was far from over. In the course of those thirty-eight years, An Artist in America was republished twice as new editions, in 1951 and 1968, and in each Benton appended a new last chapter. I. Benton made enemies easily. Between the forces of the narrowly conservative and the doctrinaire radical, another influential force thrives in the city.
Such disparagement was not simply for its own sake. “So, you’re an artist, Shorty?” II. III.