Art: A Look at Thomas Hart Benton
Target Grade Levels: 7-12
Subjects: Social Studies (American History), Art (Visual
Overview: A major leader of the American Regionalism art
movement, Thomas Hart Benton became famous for his murals
that brought America to life. Benton established a medium
that satisfied his personal desires, but which at times
was controversial, as was his persona and views on the world.
• Reflect on current domestic and world events
• Determine what influences the visual arts, with
a look at the American Regionalism (Regionalist) art movement
and Thomas Hart Benton
• Assess the role of art as a vehicle for examining
history and form of social commentary
• Examine aspects of American history
• Design a piece of art that reflects a current world
or domestic current event
Relevant National Standards:
This lesson correlates to the Mid-continent Research for
Education and Learning (McREL) located at
Standard 1: Student understands connections
among the various art forms and other disciplines
Standard 2: Student understands the visual
arts in relation to history and cultures
Standard 3: Student knows a range of subject
matter, symbols, and potential ideas in the visual arts
Standard 5: Student understands the characteristics
and merits of one's own artwork and the artwork of others
Standard 2: Student understands the historical
Estimated Time Needed: 7-10 classroom periods,
in addition to work at home to complete art projects
• The PBS film: Ken Burns’ Thomas Hart Benton
• If available, computers and Internet access
• Arts and crafts materials, such as paint, markers,
crayons, sketch pencils, drawing paper, oak tag, clay, etc.
(These depend on student choices of art mediums.)
• Resources on Thomas Hart Benton and American history
(Specifically events documented in Benton’s works,
art movements, and key current domestic and world events.)
• Chart paper and markers
• Chalkboard and chalk
• Optional, and only if available: posters of Thomas
Hart Benton’s key works
• Watch with a second hand or a three-minute egg timer
Assumed Prior Knowledge:
Students are or will be studying or have studied elements
of American history that are represented in Benton’s
work. They are also familiar with key global and domestic
current events. Students have used primary and secondary
sources in their American history studies.
1) Divide students into small groups. Distribute one or
two pieces of chart paper and one marker to each group.
Have students select a recorder. Instruct students to discuss
and list key current world and domestic events, such as
the pending war with Iraq, the struggling economy, terrorism,
9/11, and AIDS in Africa. Invite each group recorder to
report back its group’s topics to the class. Synthesize
and list on the chalkboard common topics, arriving at a
list of about 10-15. Briefly discuss with the students each
event to gauge their knowledge and understanding of the
subjects. (Log onto News Sources
for a range of news sources.)
2) Ask each group to choose and then briefly discuss a topic.
(Each group’s topic should be different.) Give each
group approximately three minutes to brainstorm a list of
visual images associated with the topic. Remind students
to be as imaginative, interpretive, and as vivid as possible.
(Students can elect a recorder to document the images.)
Have each group share its images, explaining how the topic
evoked them and what the images represent.
3) Discuss with students how the visual arts can be a vehicle
for social commentary on current and historic events, specifically
noting artists’ interpretive approaches to the content.
Students should reflect on the images they constructed in
Step 2 (and refer to other works with which they are familiar)
as a jumping off point. What influenced these images? What
role did personal perspective or life experience play in
their visualization? What messages did they seek to convey?
What emotions, ideas, actions, etc., do the images convey?
How would audiences view their work? (Log onto ArtsWork
for guiding questions to consider when critiquing art.)
4) Provide students with background on the American Regionalism
(Regionalist) art movement, giving them an overview of its
key artists and then introducing Thomas Hart Benton. (Or,
direct students to resources that provide relevant background
and then review it with them.)
5) Have students view the Burns film, Thomas
Hart Benton, or only the following segments, which
highlight his work and the Regionalist style: minutes 1-19,
23-37; 50-59. (Note that if students do not view the film,
be sure to provide substantive information on Benton in
6) Pose the following discussion questions after students
have viewed the film (or modify if using other sources):
• What experiences influenced Benton’s style?
• Why did he abandon art theory in order to produce
his artwork? What type of art did he seek to make?
• What is "Americana"? How did Benton latch
onto "Americana" as the basis of his work?
• What was unique about Benton’s style? What
did he do before undertaking his painting (the medium that
he used to create a template for his visuals)?
• How do colleagues, artists, critics, and art historians
view Benton’s approach to painting?
• Identify murals that brought attention to Benton.
What was inherent in the murals’ content?
• What was unique about the Regionalists? Why did
this movement eventually wane? What type of art became more
7) Divide students into small groups. Assign each group
a different Benton painting—specifically ones that
are clearly linked to key periods in American history—to
analyze. (Benton’s naval art collection, Missouri
murals, war paintings, etc.) Provide them with some written
background on the pieces. Students should identify and conduct
research on the historic elements highlighted in the artwork,
note how Benton tackles them, specifically any underlying
messages the piece presents regarding the event and/or time
period, and critique the work in terms of historic accuracy
and representation. Students can create a graphic organizer
to document their findings and thoughts. (Log onto Teacher
or the North
Central Regional Educational Laboratory http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1grorg.htm
for sample graphic organizers).
8) Invite each group to present its findings while also
fielding questions from class. At the end of the presentations,
have students discuss the pieces’ similarities and
differences, drawing conclusions about Benton’s style
9) Instruct each student to select one of the world or domestic
current events identified in Step 1. Ask them to gather
print and online materials relevant to the subject and then
to focus on one aspect of the topic. Encourage students
to outline the varied issues and scenarios associated with
the topic. For example, America’s struggling economy
can evoke images of poverty, Enron, the fluctuating stock
market, and joblessness. (Students can work with peers to
10) Tell students they will create a piece of art—in
a medium of choice—that reflects the topic they have
selected, explaining that like Benton’s work, their
artwork will document history. (Students may choose a medium
of a particular art movement. In this case, point them to
resources to learn about the various genres.) Instruct students
to maintain a process journal that discusses the choices
they have made regarding the piece’s subject and medium,
the work’s meaning, the creative process—where
they were "stuck," when they shifted ideas, etc.
11) Have students organize a school and/or community-based
art show of their pieces. Narratives, derived from their
topic research and journal entries, should accompany their
work and make reference to any artists or art movements
that influenced their approach.
Students can evaluate their peers’ work, perhaps in
the role of mock art judges. Students can design questionnaires
that test their peers’ knowledge of American history,
specifically those periods highlighted in Benton paintings.
• Analyze Benton’s artwork for references to
his personal life and make an oral presentation, with visuals
of the artist’s work, that discusses these references.
• Compare and contrast various art movements, charting
the varied styles to demonstrate differences and similarities,
particularly as they reflect the history of the world and/or
the United States.
• Write mini-books of American Regionalism painters
that include important works of art. Students should provide
background on U.S. history relevant to the cited works.
• Create a timeline of the evolution of American painting,
noting key movements and famous artists connected to those
• Research an artist of choice (any medium) and review
his or her artwork to locate and analyze visual references
to the artist’s personal history. Students should
also note, where appropriate, how artists’ approaches
to art change over time (and why) and art genres they may
• Design a traveling art piece/exhibit of any medium
(mural, sculpture, video, photo essay, etc.) that reflects
their school or community history and is publicly displayed
in places such as local and/or school libraries, government
buildings, and banks. Or, each student can create a piece
of art that reflects his or her experiences, perhaps to
incorporate in an exhibit focused on 21st century adolescents.
• Reflect on their future life interests and goals,
and, in that future voice, write an autobiography that details
how they followed their interests and achieved their goals,
noting specific accomplishments they have made over time.
Or, as in the film, they can write about themselves in the
voice of people in their lives—family members, colleagues,
experts in their profession, etc.
• Run a mock art auction at which they sell Benton’s
and other Regionalist artists’ work and/or artwork
they have created.
National Gallery of Art/Thomas Hart Benton
Springfield Library and Museums Association
Links to Hart sites, particularly images
The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science
Thomas Hart Benton
Thomas Hart Benton Artworks and Fine Art at arthistory.net
ArtCyclopedia: Thomas Hart Benton
The Art History of Missouri
Arts of Life in America
ArtCyclopedia: Artists by Movement: American Regionalism
Regionalism of the 1930s
National Gallery of Art: Jackson Pollock
Hall of Art Movements:
Print Materials (books, articles, catalogues)
Benton, Thomas Hart. "American Regionalism: A Personal
History of the Movement." University of Kansas City
Review 18 (Autumn 1951):41-75.
Benton, Thomas Hart. An
Artist in America. 4th ed. rev. Columbia: The University
of Missouri Press, 1983.
Benton, Thomas Hart. "The President and Me: The Intimate
Story." Gateway Heritage 16 (Winter 1995): 5-17.
Braun, Emily. 1985. Thomas Hart Benton: The America Today
Murals. (Catalog of an exhibition presented by the Williams
College Museum of Art, February 2-25, 1985). New York: The
Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.
Faith, Creekmore, ed. The Lithographs of Thomas Hart
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.
Priddy, Bob. Only the Rivers are Peaceful: Thomas Hart
Benton’s Missouri Mural.
Independence, Missouri: Independence Press, 1989.
The Sources of Country Music, directed by John Altman, focuses
on his last mural.
Tom Benton’s Missouri, directed by James Bogan and
Frank Fillio, focuses on the social history of the State
About the Author
From classroom instructor to an executive director, Michele
Israel has been an educator for nearly 20 years. She has
developed and managed innovative educational initiatives,
taught in nontraditional settings in the U.S. and overseas,
developed curricula and educational materials, and designed
and facilitated professional development for classroom and
community educators. Currently operating Educational Consulting
Group, Israel is involved with diverse projects, including
strategic planning and product development.