IU Art Museum honors murals’ 75th anniversary

The IU Art Museum opened an exhibit titled “Shallow Creek: Thomas Hart Benton and American Waterways” on the 75th anniversary of the installation of the two controversial Thomas Hart Benton murals in Woodburn Lecture Hall 100. The mural on the left side of the hall, titled “Parks, the Circus, the Klan, the Press,” has been often criticized, as it shows a member of the Klu Klux Klan burning a cross. The exhibit, showcasing other well-known works of Benton, opened March 18 and will run until May 18. \nNan Brewer, the Lucienne M. Glaubinger curator of works on paper said, “We had very good attendance for the opening.” \nThe muralist was not only famous for painting the large murals in Woodburn, taken from the collection of “Social History of the state of Indiana,” but he illustrated works for John Steinbeck’s book “Grapes of Wrath” and for Mark Twain’s book “Life on the Mississippi,” which can be seen in the exhibit. \nThe Shallow Creek Exhibit featured Benton’s original piece of waterway art called “Shallow Creek,” which has blue hues and earth tones. There were about 30 pieces of Benton’s artwork in the exhibit. \nThomas Hart Benton was born in Missouri, where he traveled the back woods and “had nostalgia for these places,” Brewer said. The showcase is based around the theme of waterways where Benton painted the dangers of water such as floods or used water to help signify the cycle of life. Benton, a so-called “country bumpkin,” was extremely well-educated and was known as a regionalist painter. Regionalist artwork consists of paintings of American scenes. The exhibit displayed several pieces of work illustrating the history of landscapes in America before and during the start of the industrial era. \n“He was inspired by abstraction and modern styles of the early 20th century,” Brewer said. \nAlmost all of Benton’s works in the Shallow Creek exhibit were paintings of people and relationships using his own individual style unlike any other. \nSophomore Kimberly Yosslowitz, who was taking a tour through the exhibit, said, “I was really surprised to find out he drew pictures for books by Mark Twain. They really captured the essence of the stories and what it was like to live in America in the early 20th century.” \nThe exhibit will still be running through finals weekend and into the summer session. Brewer said, “We are hoping to get another burst of attendance the on 25th and 26th.”