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Study for 'City Activities with Subway'

1930
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study for 'City Activities with Subway'
  • Artist: Thomas Hart Benton (American, Neosho, Missouri 1889–1975 Kansas City, Missouri)
  • Date: 1930
  • Medium: Oil on Masonite
  • Dimensions: 15 1/4 × 23 3/4 in. (38.7 × 60.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of AXA Equitable, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.425.28
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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The Farmer's Daughter, Thomas Hart Benton American, Lithograph
The Farmer's Daughter
Thomas Hart Benton
1944
Morning Train, Thomas Hart Benton American, Lithograph
Morning Train
Thomas Hart Benton
1943
Minstrel Show, Thomas Hart Benton American, Lithograph
Minstrel Show
Thomas Hart Benton
1934
Frisky Day, Thomas Hart Benton American, Lithograph
Frisky Day
Thomas Hart Benton
1939
Goin' Home, Thomas Hart Benton American, Lithograph
Goin' Home
Thomas Hart Benton
1937

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