EDITORIAL: Neosho Arts Council right to celebrate Benton
Oct. 19—It is great to see Neosho's native son get a little hometown glory. A new mural, "A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton," by Jared Jennings, was installed on the north side of Neosho's City Hall this week. A formal ribbon-cutting is set for Nov. 14.
Benton is one of Missouri's most celebrated artists and was one of the most famous painters in the country in the early 20th century. In fact, Benton was the first American artist to make the cover of Time magazine, about the time he was painting his "Social History of Missouri" for the state Capitol.
That Benton became an artist at all was something of a minor miracle. His father, Maecenas Benton, who for a while represented Southwest Missouri in Congress, opposed it, and wanted his son to become a lawyer and politician, like him.
"That I should even think of becoming an artist gave him a sense of outrage," Benton said. "It would never do for a Benton to descend so low."
Descend he did. Into Joplin's House of Lords, where at age 17 he was caught staring at the painting of a naked woman that hung over the bar. "The fellows started kidding me and I told them I was an artist. ... To prove it they knew that they needed a draftsman on the paper (The Joplin American) so they took me down there and I got the job."
Thus, the descent continued into an even more mischievous profession, but Benton was able to save himself from a newspaper career by becoming a full-time artist.
Still, Benton wasn't always beloved in his own time.
While he captured the spirit of many ordinary Missourians — farmers and the working class — and his paintings also reveal the beauty of the Ozarks, he did not shy away from Missouri's ugly side, which included slavery and lynchings, and politicians were just as excitable back then as they are today about anything that might challenge the version of history to which they think we all should subscribe.
We're grateful so much of Benton's art remains on display in the region, whether it's Neosho, Joplin City Hall, Crystal Bridges or the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
Benton deserves the honor.
And the Neosho Arts Council and Jared Jennings deserve a round of applause for commissioning and painting the mural.
