Thomas Hart Benton

(American, 1889-1975)

Island Hay, 1945

Lithograph on paper

12 3/4" x 10" (image)

Edition of 250

Pencil-signed "Benton" in the lower right margin. The sheet measures 12" x 16". Hinged to a cardboard back mat and housed in protective foamboard, measuring 14" x 18". From an edition of 250, circulated by Associated American Artists.

Of Island Hay, Benton commented: "In the uneven fields on Martha's Vineyard, the reapers still mow with their long scythes, for the contour of the small fields makes a reaping machine impractical. Much of the land has never been completely plowed and leveled, and all kinds of obstacles stand in the way of modern machine methods."

Literature: Creekmore Fath, The Lithographs of Thomas Hart Benton, 1979 (second edition), University of Texas Press, 68.

Good condition. Mat burn to the sheet from the cardboard back mat, and mild toning to the sheet from light exposure, with a little bit of variation to the toning in the right and bottom margins. The sheet is beautifully flat and uncreased.