Hollywood 1938

Thomas Hart Benton made ‘Hollywood’ with oil on canvas. You can see this interest in form and process through the way Benton used modeling to describe the figures in the painting. I find myself getting lost in the way the muscular forms of the different figures interact with each other. What really grabs me about this piece is the surface and texture. It’s super smooth, almost like he's trying to hide the brushstrokes, which is interesting, right? Because then you start thinking about what's being hidden, what's being revealed. Look at the dark, curving lines that define the actors arms. It’s almost as though they could flex and ripple right off the canvas. Benton was influenced by the old masters like El Greco. Both painters are interested in a hyper-real rendering of the human form, which perhaps comes through in this painting as a slightly satirical lens. Art isn't about answers, it's about questions.