Coal Station

1920s

Not on view

This sketch is one of dozens of drawings that Benton used to compose his mural America Today, also in the Museum’s collection (2012.478a–j). After his father’s death in 1924, Benton explored the United States by car. He said, "I traveled without interests beyond those of getting material for my pictures." In New York City in 1929, he exhibited a group of drawings made during visits to the coal regions of Pennsylvania, New York, and Alabama. These drawings, including this example, became the foundation for the Coal mural and for a series of paintings examining the plight of miners.

Artwork Details

Title: Coal Station
Artist: Thomas Hart Benton (American, Neosho, Missouri 1889–1975 Kansas City, Missouri)
Date: 1920s
Medium: Pen and black ink and watercolor over graphite on paper
Dimensions: 8 3/4 × 10 7/8 in. (22.2 × 27.7 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of AXA Equitable, 2016
Object Number: 2016.425.26
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Thomas Hart Benton

In the same medium

From the same time and place

America Today, Thomas Hart Benton American, Ten panels: Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior — America Today
Thomas Hart Benton
1930–31

Gray and Brass, John Sloan American, Oil on canvas, American — Gray and Brass
John Sloan
1907

Design for a window, "Ecce Homo", Louis C. Tiffany American, Transparent and opaque watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper mounted in paperboard with window mat, American — Design for a window, "Ecce Homo"
Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Studios
1902-32

Cotton Pickers, Georgia, Thomas Hart Benton American, Tempera and oil on canvas — Cotton Pickers, Georgia
Thomas Hart Benton
1928–29

Necklace, Meta Overbeck American, Gold, emeralds, Montana sapphires, topazes, enamel, American — Necklace
Meta Overbeck
Louis C. Tiffany
Manufacturer Tiffany & Co.
ca. 1914–15

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