Thomas Hart Benton 1889 - 1975

Dr. and Mrs. Isaac Friedman, Plantation, Florida
The Israel Museum Jerusalem, since 1986

Seeking to capture the essence of the American individual and depict figures of varied backgrounds, Thomas Hart Benton began the "Studies of the American Character" series in the 1920s. Focusing first on his neighbors on Martha's Vineyard, Benton, in 1924, shifted his attention to the people of Missouri when he traveled there to tend to his ailing father, who would die soon thereafter. As Henry Adams notes, "The importance of Benton's last meeting with his father can hardly be exaggerated: it catalyzed an abrupt change both in his behavior and in his artistic expression" (Henry Adams, Thomas Hart Benton: Drawing From Life, New York, 1990, p. 94).

With the passing of his father, Benton developed an increasing need to travel and expose himself to fresh experiences and character studies, so from 1925 to 1928, sometimes with no fixed itinerary, Benton wandered the countryside. In 1928 Benton's summer travels began in Pennsylvania before winding south "into the broad expanse of cottonfields that extended from Georgia and the Carolinas through Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas to Texas" (Adams, Thomas Hart Benton: Drawing From Life, p. 100). According to Adams, Mississippi Negro Boy was likely painted during this summer sojourn.