How Did Benton Use the Elements of Art in His Work?
An American Master and Cartoon Was His Thing
A few years agone, I left Manhattan and went to Manhattan — Kansas, that is. I was a bit wary every bit I landed in the midst of a harsh storm, but looked forward to seeing all the Midwest had to offer. During my trip, I visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum, in Kansas Urban center, Missouri, and rediscovered the piece of work of Thomas Hart Benton.
I realized there was a lot I hadn't learned about the artist. I'd always thought of Benton as a muralist. A docent informed me that most of the Regionalist artist's work is rooted in drawings and pencil sketching.
Sketching Tour
In the late 1920s, Benton went on a six-month sketching tour across the country. He institute much of the subject affair that would provide the inspiration for the rest of his artistic career.
He sketched the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, steel mills in Pittsburgh, lumber camps in the Appalachian Mountains, the New Orleans nightlife, riverboats along the Mississippi, Texas ranches and oil fields, and much more.
Benton wasn't sketching as a remote observer, merely passing through and ogling the locals. He connected with the people and places he met along the style. Drawing was a ways of interacting, just like sharing a repast.
I like Benton'due south pencil sketches mostly because they are neither photorealistic nor pristinely finished. They are raw, washed in the moment and reflect Benton's time with his subjects.
Learning from His Sketches
Here'southward what looking at Benton's sketches has taught me:
- Benton knew how to sketch all the vibrancy and life he saw past freely moving objects around. This creates a dynamic composition, conflating figures and their gestures and movements.
- He moved effectually a scene. First sketching an overall view, and so drawing several close-ups — of figures, an interesting gesture, or the limerick from a different angle.
- Benton'due south career was steeped in the art of the political cartoon. Many of his drawings emphasize motions, a person's features, and lines of perspective. He controlled his bulletin with the exaggerations he chose to include.
- There were unlike types of drawings for Benton. Some were life drawings, showing figures and landscapes. Compositional drawings were used to analyze the design of a work or how elements in a scene related to one another. Drawings were created before, during, and after a painting was created, and served to enrich fifty-fifty his large-scale murals.
It'southward All in the Figure
For me, the terminal insight nigh Benton'south work is that the body, the land, the face up — information technology is all given the same handling. In a very modern way, Benton used the same approach to all of his subjects. His style of working was that inherent.
If you want to showtime sketching figures, and by extension everything else you could perchance desire, start with Brent Eviston'due south Effigy Cartoon Essentials: Getting Started with Gesture & Shape. In this video lesson, you volition go started with the poses and shapes of the figure — much the style Benton would advocate! Cheque out the preview trailer below for a sneak peek into this workshop.
For Benton, drawing and sketching weren't art forms that belonged behind glass in a frame. They were in his easily all the time; the workhorse and creative engine of his art. Learning how to sketch and how to utilize your sketches is really what sustains an creative person.
Eviston's Figure Drawing Essentials Kitcan help y'all on this path, too. Information technology is filled with detailed tips and techniques and effective demonstrations that permit you to explore your earth through cartoon, just like Benton did. Enjoy!
Source: https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/drawing/drawing-lessons-from-thomas-hart-benton/
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