Renowned American artist (1889–1975) whose distinctive ‘regionalist’ style made him one of the most influential figures in American art during the 1930s and 1940s. His large-scale murals, often peopled by lanky, exaggerated human figures, became classic visual emblems of both idyllic rural culture and bustling urbanism in Depression-era America. ALS, in pencil, signed “Benton,” one page, 8 x 10.5, no date, but notated at the top in another hand “1926-27.” Benton writes “Lewis.” In full: “I liked your article in the New Republic. There was something very suggestive about your connection of the historical recessions with space recessions. That was a new angle for me and fits exceedingly well with some notions of my own with reference to certain inter dependencies between contexts and forms. We will have an opportunity this summer to mull over some of this stuff. I am going out to Missouri in June but will be up in Chitwater the first part of July. I was beginning to worry about raising cash for my trip but got a good start night before last by selling my Alderman.” Next to this line, Benton adds a caricature of a fat-lipped businessman with a cigar clenched in his teeth. The letter continues “I will only have to raise a little more to do what I want to. The old Mississippi steam boat is being rapidly replaced by a new type and I want to nail a few before they are gone. I am likely to be finished with your sketch this spring, If so I’ll fix it up & send it.” Matted and framed with a small plaque to an overall size of 15.5 x 21.5. In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, and a bit of mild toning.
A couple of years before sending this letter to the magazine, Benton declared himself an ‘enemy of modernism’ and began the naturalistic and representational work today known as Regionalism. Focusing here on “certain inter dependencies between contexts and forms,” the recipient of this letter had worked for the New Republic, which, since 1914, has been dedicated to covering politics and the arts. Considered a liberal and progressive magazine, it has been widely lauded as being the impetus behind steering liberalism toward foreign and domestic interventionism—with Benton’s representation of a ‘fat cat politician’ the first such sketch of any kind we have ever seen by the artist in such a format. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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