Muscle Macho

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Admin
Muscle Macho

Muscle Macho

In 1930, future Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock was a causeless rebel from Wyoming, with some inclination towards art but no real focus to pursue it. He soon went along with his two older brothers to New York, however, enrolling at the Art Students League to take courses with Thomas Hart Benton. Benton was another American art force in the making who would lead the 1930s Regionalist Triumvirate, a trio which included Benton, Grant Wood of American Gothic fame, and John Steuart Curry.

Benton and the Regionalists

Benton, Wood and Curry turned to the culture and landscape of the Midwest for subject matter, much of which was projected onto imposing, semi-epic murals. They sought to shift the focus of American art away from Eurocentric or even East Coast preferences, and to show how the everyday farm girl or preacher or working man were worthy of appreciation. As Benton himself declared, "The Great Plains have a releasing effect...I like their endlessness." Regionalist work was sometimes praised as exciting and organic, yet at other times the school was called reactionary or exaggerated. The swaggering Benton tended to be the most dynamic of the group, and his career would be marked with conflict against what he perceived to be the art elite.

Benton and Pollock

While Tom Benton had a bit of a macho hothead reputation, he was often attentive and caring toward his students. In the case of the Pollock Brothers, all were readily welcomed by Benton and his Italian wife Rita, a support base which included free spaghetti dinners and an open door policy at the Benton's apartment. Jackson, in need of both paternal and artistic guidance, immediately bonded with Benton. In the classroom, Benton came across as a strong-willed yet perceptive instructor who stressed direct experience, hard work and the significance of composition and design in his teachings.