Midwest 1931

Thomas Hart Benton made “Midwest” with oil on canvas, and just looking at it, I can imagine him wrestling with the composition, trying to wrangle this epic story of hard work and industry into a cohesive vision. I can almost feel the weight of Benton’s brushstrokes as he layers the paint, building up the textures of the fields and the ruggedness of the workers. Those figures with their sinewy arms and determined faces – they’re not just portraits, they’re like monuments to the American spirit, and how it's bound up in a very masculine idea of physical work. There's such a dialogue between these elements, the saw seems like it's about to cut through the frame and separate the two realities. You can sense Benton’s struggle to reconcile these different realities, searching for a way to make them coexist on a single canvas.