Historical November 1985 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
“I paint murals because I can include more stuff in them,” said Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), who is known for his works depicting American historical themes using hard line, bright colors and strong three-dimensional effects. “Tom Benton of Missouri,” a musical and lecture series about the artist, will be presented at the Missouri Historical Society on three succeeding Sundays, Nov. 3, 10 and 17 at 2:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Jefferson Memorial Building in Forest Park. James Bogan, associate professor of art at the University of Missouri-Rolla, will open the series with a slide-lecture, “Tom Benton in the ’30s,” on Nov. 3.
In this presentation, Prof. Bogan will introduce Benton’s friends, theories, and paintings from the turbulent decade of the thirties and will discuss his maverick positions on art, politics, and history which managed to defy those in power and please the multitudes.
The following Sunday, Nov. 9, Bob Dyer will sing ballads of Missouri, providing a musical documentary for Benton’s spacious panoramas presenting American history. Songs like “River of the Big Canoes” and “Jesse James” will evoke the landscape and the characters seen in Benton’s paintings. Bob Dyer, who teaches English at the Kemper Military School in Boonville, has recorded songs about Missouri folk figures on his recent album, “River of the Big Canoes.” In his slide-lecture, “Public Art and Political Furor,” Bob Priddy will use radio recordings and tell of the outrage, hullaballo, and controversy that greeted the mural, “The Social History of the State of Missouri,” when Benton finished it in 1936. Priddy’s broadcast vignettes of Missouri history have been gathered into a book, Across the Wide Missouri.
There is no admission charge to the hour-long programs.
This project is supported by a grant from the Missouri Committee for the Humanities, Inc., the statebased arm of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, November 1985.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Source calls November 9 Sunday, while introduction and calendar put the second Sunday program on November 10. Printed date retained.
Original source: SD_Times1985_11.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
