Subject: Although this landscape cannot be identified as a specific site, it evokes the gentle hills and valleys of the southern United States. Benton identified this scene as a hill farm in North Carolina, a place he had visited in 1928. He found this area fascinating because the communities resisted change and continued older traditions. In this rural scene, two men build a haystack around a support pole, while a third man on horseback delivers more hay.
This painting is an example of the artist’s mature style. The composition is dominated by the central haystack. The rolling hills, the mass of trees, the clouds, and the curving road enclose the haystack and repeat its rounded contours. Rich earthtones – browns, greens, and golds – unify the composition. Benton was interested in placing shapes to suggest three-dimensional volumes and deep space. Here the overlapping hills and clumps of trees and the alternation of areas of light and shadow provide a sense of space. Benton also used the contrasts of light and shadow to make objects look three-dimensional and to add drama to the composition.
Benton’s study of Italian Renaissance painting inspired him to work in the medium of tempera, dry pigments mixed with egg yolk and water. Unlike oil paints, which dry slowly, egg tempera dries quickly to a smooth, hard surface. Dynamic brushstrokes animate the landscape and give the haystack a lively energy.
Thomas Hart Benton was one of a group of artists called Regionalists, who during the 1920s and 1930s, turned away from the influence of contemporary European painting to concentrate on depictions of rural life in the United States. Benton was born in Missouri in 1889. He is best known for his realistic scenes of country life and historical murals, the most famous of which is a series on the history of Missouri in the State House in Jefferson City. Benton studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1908 moved to Paris. Initially he was an abstract painter, but by 1920 Benton had abandoned what he called “the modern experiment” to paint the histories, landscapes, and people of rural America in murals and in smaller works like Haystack. On Christmas Eve 1934, he became the first artist to appear on the cover of Time magazine. The accompanying article focused on his portrayal of country life.
During the 1930s, the era of the Great Depression, the economic hardships and related societal conflicts prompted some American artists to turn away from abstract art and to address subjects that celebrated rural life. This group of artists, called Regionalists, rejected contemporary European influences, believing that the true expression of American art could be found in the depiction of the life of small towns and farms.
