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Thomas Hart Benton's Huck Finn is a subject associated with the artist's native Missouri. This 1936 lithograph is one of the largest of Benton's prints.

Benton was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. He incorporated scenes not only of the state's early history, its agriculture, industry and family life but also episodes from the lives of some of the state's legendary characters: Jesse James, Frankie and Johnny, and Huck Finn. In the lithograph of the latter subject, the emphatic contrasts of dark and light forms combined with strong diagonal movement gives the picture considerable energy and vitality.

Source: Bulletin, January-February, 1977.


Exhibition History"Benton- Curry- Wood: Selected Lithographs," organized by the Iowa Arts Council, cat. text by Amy Namowitz Worthen, cat. no. 11 - circulated to:~Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Apr. 15- May 14, 1978;~Blanden Art Gallery, Fort Dodge, June 4 - July 2, 1987;~Waterloo Municipal Galleries, July 9 - July 30, 1978;~Witter Gallary, Storm Lake, September, 1978;~Sioux City Art Center, Oct. 7 -Nov. 12, 1978;~Brunnier Gallery, Iowa State University, Ames, Dec. 5 - Dec. 21, 1978~

"American Museum- an Experience in Community," organized by the International Commumication Agency, Washington, D. C. - circulated to:~Bucharest, Romania, Oct. 13 - Nov. 1, 1981;~Museum of Art, Cluj- Napoca, Romania, May 25 - June 13, 1982;~Shipka Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, July 27 - Aug. 19, 1982~

"MCM - Y2K: A CENTURY OF ART ON PAPER," Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Jan. - Feb. 1977 (ill.)

TOKAIDO, " On the Road: Pilgrimage, Travel and Culture," published by the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, illus. p. 16
DimensionsImage: 16 1/2 × 21 3/4 in. (41.9 × 55.2 cm)
Sheet: 20 1/8 × 24 1/4 in. (51.1 × 61.6 cm)
Accession Number 1976.75
Classificationsprint
CopyrightARS
SignedBenton (l,l stone) Benton (l,r graphite)
Edition100
Huck Finn
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1951
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1938
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1941
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1945
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1934
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1939
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1946
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
1928
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Hart Benton
ca. 1946
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Thomas Loraine McKenney
James Hall
after Charles Bird King
1838