Thomas Hart Benton And Dallas County, Missouri
Did you know that famous Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) completed the painting "County Politics" based on the old Dallas County courthouse that once sat where the current courthouse stands? The painting was completed in 1965. The original oil-tempera painting by Benton was sold recently by a New York auction house Spanierman Galleries. While the actual price of the sale was never disclosed, experts claim the final sales price was "in the millions". Even original black and white prints of the painting sell for in excess of $5,000 if they are signed by Benton. According to the book Tom Benton & His Drawings by Karal Ann Marling (University of Missouri Press, 1985, p. 196), Benton did several versions of “County Politics” between the mid-‘50s and 1964: a large watercolor, a pen-and-wash exhibition drawing (which is currently on display at the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site), and an oil-tempera painting. It also was produced as a lithograph in 1973. In 1972, the oil-tempera painting was in the collection of Rita Benton (Benton's wife). This continued until her death in April 1975, when the painting would have gone into the Benton Testamentary Trust, run by United Missouri Bank of Kansas City until it was sold recently.
Benton's artwork hangs in some of the most respected art museums in the world including the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and the White House. He also painted a number of large murals that are in the Missouri State Capitol, the Harry S Truman Presidential Library, Governor's Mansion of Missouri and The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. One of his last murals he completed before his death hangs in the Joplin (Mo.) City Hall building. Benton was born in Neosho and began his art career as a cartoonist for a Joplin newspaper before finally settling in Kansas City.
In 1977, Benton's 2-1/2 story late-Victorian residence and carriage house studio in Kansas City was designated by Missouri as the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site. The historic site been preserved nearly unchanged from the time of his death; clothing, furniture, and paint brushes are still in place. Displaying 13 original works of his art, the house museum is open for guided tours. The PBS documentary director Ken Burns has completed a history of Thomas Hart Benton and the PBS website to this video contains a number of outstanding resources about his life and artwork. We encourage you to visit this website by clicking here.
Confederate troops burned the original Dallas County Courthouse on Oct. 18, 1863. Fire also destroyed two subsequent emergency quarters during 1864 and 1867, consuming most county records. During the February term of 1868 the court appointed Eleazer Hovey, a dentist, superintendent of a new courthouse to be built upon the square and appropriated $15,000. Plans which Hovey presented to the court for a 44-by-60 foot, two-story, brick building were approved in November 1868. The court awarded the contract to a A. E. Dye in February 1869. Dye, who also built Dent and Crawford County courthouses, requested and received an additional sum of $1,000 for his proposed cupola and door shutter in February 1870. The court accepted the completed building in June 1870. Final costs came to about $17,500. It was this courthouse that was featured in the Benton painting and is shown in the picture at the top left. This building was renovated in 1937 and the cupola was removed in 1951, but it continued in use until destroyed by fire March 2, 1955. Thomas Hart Benton immortalized this Dallas County courthouse in a painting shown at the top right.
Bibliography Books
Benton's artwork hangs in some of the most respected art museums in the world including the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and the White House. He also painted a number of large murals that are in the Missouri State Capitol, the Harry S Truman Presidential Library, Governor's Mansion of Missouri and The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. One of his last murals he completed before his death hangs in the Joplin (Mo.) City Hall building. Benton was born in Neosho and began his art career as a cartoonist for a Joplin newspaper before finally settling in Kansas City.
In 1977, Benton's 2-1/2 story late-Victorian residence and carriage house studio in Kansas City was designated by Missouri as the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site. The historic site been preserved nearly unchanged from the time of his death; clothing, furniture, and paint brushes are still in place. Displaying 13 original works of his art, the house museum is open for guided tours. The PBS documentary director Ken Burns has completed a history of Thomas Hart Benton and the PBS website to this video contains a number of outstanding resources about his life and artwork. We encourage you to visit this website by clicking here.
Confederate troops burned the original Dallas County Courthouse on Oct. 18, 1863. Fire also destroyed two subsequent emergency quarters during 1864 and 1867, consuming most county records. During the February term of 1868 the court appointed Eleazer Hovey, a dentist, superintendent of a new courthouse to be built upon the square and appropriated $15,000. Plans which Hovey presented to the court for a 44-by-60 foot, two-story, brick building were approved in November 1868. The court awarded the contract to a A. E. Dye in February 1869. Dye, who also built Dent and Crawford County courthouses, requested and received an additional sum of $1,000 for his proposed cupola and door shutter in February 1870. The court accepted the completed building in June 1870. Final costs came to about $17,500. It was this courthouse that was featured in the Benton painting and is shown in the picture at the top left. This building was renovated in 1937 and the cupola was removed in 1951, but it continued in use until destroyed by fire March 2, 1955. Thomas Hart Benton immortalized this Dallas County courthouse in a painting shown at the top right.
Bibliography Books
- The Dallas County, Missouri Story, 1841-1971. Cassville: Dallas County Historical Society, 1974.
- History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, Pulaski, Phelps, and Dent Counties. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1889.
- Tom Benton & His Drawings by Karal Ann Marling: Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1985.
- Dallas County Buffalo Reflex, March 3, 10, Sept. 5, Dec. 6, 1955; March 22, Nov. 14, 1956; Dec. 12, 1957; Jan. 9, Feb. 6, 27, March 13, 1958; June 25, 1970.
- Work Projects Administration, Historical Records Survey, Missouri, 1935-1942, Dallas County. Located in Joint Collection: MU, Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia and State Historical Society of Missouri Manuscripts.
