Chilmark

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975)

Chilmark

  • Date: 1922
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Object Dimensions: 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 60.96 cm)
  • Credit Line: Museum Purchase, 1963.003
  • Photo Credit: Jueqian Fang
  • Copyright: Copyright held by Thomas Hart Benton Testamentary Trusts, represented by Artist Rights Society
  • Verbal Description: This is a somewhat abstracted landscape painting of a small town with rolling hills in the distance. There are not many details; shapes are filled with large swaths of smooth color. The perspective is slightly above the town, perhaps painted from the hillside in the foreground that takes up the right corner of the composition. Protruding from what might be a curved road along this hillside is a telephone pole, but without any wires. Below this road about a dozen house shapes of varying shades of brown and gray, nestled between golden mounds and deep green foliage. At the center of this cluster is what might be church—a white building with a tall frontispiece coming to a point, like a steeple. It looks to be a pleasant day with blue skies and warm light coming from the left and highlighting the town.

Collections List