Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City

I'm baaaack! I've missed visiting all my bloggy friends and will slowly start catching up with all of your blogs over the next few days. I had a lovely visit with family in Kansas City, which included some wonderful art at the Nelson-Adkins Museum and a scrumptious lunch in the Country Club Plaza.

Persephone, 1938-39, Thomas Hart Benton

Of course I couldn't visit Kansas City, without seeing some of the fabulous artwork of one of my favorite artists, Thomas Hart Benton. (click on his name for a previous post) Nelson-Adkins is home to his famous masterpiece, Persephone, 1938-39, his recast of the Greek myth in a rural setting, where a farm girl, representing Persephone, is caught sunbathing by a lustful aging farmer, depicting Hades. The funny thing is, although it is said Benton used a model, the farmer

looks strikingly like Benton, himself. The pose of the farm girl evokes the pin-up girls of the time period. I snapped the above pic of my daughter with the painting when we visited the museum last Friday.

Thomas Hart Benton

I love, love, love the extraordinary artwork of Thomas Hart Benton, and not just because he was an old Missour-ah guy, like my WT. His naturalistic regionalism movement works are mostly associated with the Midwest. They are powerful and energetic, with just the perfect amount of fluidity, while exuding a marvelous sculpted quality.

When we lived in Kansas City, MO, I enjoyed the sizable collection of his work at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Benton actually taught there from 1935-1941, his most famous student being Jackson Pollock. The museum is also home to his masterpiece, Persephone, his recast of the Greek myth in a rural setting, where a farm girl is caught sunbathing by Hades, portrayed by a lustful aging farmer. Much like his contemporary, Diego Rivera, his Indiana Murals stirred quite a controversy, when he refused to sugarcoat the state's history, including a portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan in this work. The murals are now on display at Indiana University in Bloomington,
where my daughter did her undergraduate work. If you are interested in discovering more on Benton, Ken Burns made an excellent documentary on his life, part of his American Stories
series.

People of Chilmark, Thomas Hart Benton, 1920