The Kentuckian 1954

Thomas Hart Benton painted The Kentuckian with oil on canvas, and what’s immediately striking is the sinuous muscularity of the figures. I’m imagining Benton wrestling with the canvas, coaxing these shapes and forms into being. I can almost feel him, the physicality of applying paint to canvas, the push and pull of color and light creating depth and volume. It’s like he’s sculpting with paint. The surface has been smoothed to perfection. How was he thinking about his predecessors, contemporaries, and future painters as he made the work? Look at the way the father strides forward, his gaze fixed on the horizon. The son, slightly behind, looks up to him with admiration. Even the dog seems to strain forward, eager to follow. I can feel the painting building narratives out of color and composition. Benton’s work reminds me that painting is a conversation across time. Each brushstroke is an echo of the past and a whisper to the future.