Unfortunately, you may not notice that symbolism without a refresher course in Greek mythology, so here goes: Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. Beyond the striking beauty of the painting there is a lot of cool autobiographical and social symbolism worth noting. What do you do when the hub of the American art world tells you that your style and social opinions are too old fashioned and folksy? Obviously you incorporate more tired mythological and pastoral tropes into your paintings while asserting your masculinity through the display of a hot young woman fully nude being subjected to a pervy old man.Īlright, it’s unfair to dismiss this piece because of its use of mythology or the male gaze. In actuality, he was no longer welcome in New York after making numerous homophobic remarks about curators, generally refusing to conform to the leftist politics of the community, and having a style that had been outmoded by modernism. Officially the reason for the move was opportunity, he’d earned a mural commission for the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City and was offered a position as head of the painting department for the Kansas City Art Institute. In 1935, Benton left his teaching post at New York’s Art Students League for his home-state of Missouri.
Described as “fit for a Moscow Subway”, compared to a pinup calendar, hung for years in a New York nightclub called “The Diamond Horseshoe,” cited by contemporary art critic Karal Ann Marling as "one of the great works of American pornography,” Persephone would get Benton fired from his teaching job at the Kansas City Art Institute and later mark him as the creator of the “ Mona Lisa” of Kansas City.
It doesn't work.Īmerica’s reaction to Persephone did not exemplify a broad and European approach to the arts. Thomas Hart Benton tries to get 1930's middle-America to love him with a giant nude of Persephone.
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