An Artist in America
by Benton, Thomas Hart
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Fine/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0826203949
- ISBN 13
- 9780826203946
- Seller
-
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1983. xx, 395 pages, [80] pages of plates, illustrations; 24 cm. Fourth revised edition. First published 1937. Tight, clean copy. Dust jacket, with a sunned spine (bold & legible titles), protected in a mylar cover. "Controversial, flamboyant, contentious, brilliant--Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) was certainly all of those. Few American artists have stirred so much love and hatred as he did in a career that lasted almost seventy years. Although his painting aroused much controversy, perhaps equally as much was created by his words, for his piercing wit, profane sarcasms, and insightful condemnations were fired off without restraint. In this fiery and provocative autobiography, Benton presents an intriguing records of American art and society during his lifetime. The first installment of this work was published in 1937, but Benton continued his life story in chapters added to editions published in 1951 and 1968. This new edition includes seventy-six drawings that add much to his narrative, plus a foreword discussing Benton's place in American art and an afterword covering his career after 1968, both written by art historian Matthew Baigell. Although Benton is most famous as a regionalist painter and muralist, his complex and fascinating career brought him into contact with many of the most important artists and thinkers of the century, including Jackson Pollock, Grant Wood, Julian Huxley, Felix Frankfurter, Eugene Debbs, John Reed, and Harry Truman. While living in New York and on Martha's Vineyard in the 1920s and 1930s, Benton often associated with leading intellectuals and radicals. However, when his evolving principles of art led him away from an interest in Marxism, he was bitterly attacked by many of his former friends, and his account of that time reveals strikingly the fierce critical battles he faced in trying to establish his own artistic vision. Critics on the Left were not his only opponents, however, and equally revealing are his responses to the moral condemnations heaped on his murals done for the states of Indiana and Missouri and on his realistic nudes of the late 1930s. Throughout his account, from descriptions of his boyhood in southwest Missouri, his travels, and his career to discussions of specific works of art and other artists, Benton portrays people and events as vividly in words as he does in his paintings." - Publisher.. 4th. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. 8vo.
Reviews
On Jan 4 2012, Runningman said:
A classic and worth getting Benton's late-revised printing as he revised it several times as he aged. The description of the copy was understated as it was in virtually mint condition upon receipt. Wonderful volume for lovers of this artist.
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Details
- Bookseller
- LEFT COAST BOOKS (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 117240
- Title
- An Artist in America
- Author
- Benton, Thomas Hart
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- 4th
- ISBN 10
- 0826203949
- ISBN 13
- 9780826203946
- Publisher
- University of Missouri Press
- Place of Publication
- Columbia, MO
- Date Published
- 1983
- Size
- 8vo
- Bookseller catalogs
- American / 5. Modern, 1900-1945; Movements / Regionalism;
Terms of Sale
LEFT COAST BOOKS
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About the Seller
LEFT COAST BOOKS
Biblio member since 2016
Santa Barbara, California
About LEFT COAST BOOKS
Established in Santa Barbara, California, in 2004, Left Coast Books specializes in ART BOOKS, offering thousands of titles on painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, design, photography, film, video, and performance art. We also sell classics, literature, history, and a broad variety of useful academic books.
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Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Sunned
- Damage done to a book cover or dust jacket caused by exposure to direct sunlight. Very strong fluorescent light can cause slight...