Study for Bootleggers (Primary Title)
Thomas Hart Benton, American, 1889 - 1975 (Artist)
Determined not to idealize the past, Benton sometimes explored the more unseemly aspects of the American story. In this study for Bootleggers (Reynolda House Museum of American Art), the final canvas in his American Historical Epic, the artist turned to issues of his own era. Politically astute—he was the son of a Missouri congressman and the grandnephew of the state’s first senator—Benton offers commentary about the failed policies and corrupting influences of Prohibition, the 1920 federal law restricting the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Overlapping vignettes picture an active black market in which a bootlegger sells directly to a moneyed client while a man carries a crate of whiskey to a waiting airplane. Beneath a distant overpass and under the nose of a complicit policeman, gunmen hijack a truck conveying the illicit cargo. By filling the scene with speeding trains, a sleek airplane, cars, trucks, and telephone lines, Benton suggests that modern technology aids both progress and crime alike.
Signed lower right: "Benton"
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
Roanoke Museum of Fien Arts, "The Grapes of Wrath", 7/29 - 8/31/89, Roanoke, VA
Artmobile, "Art of the 30's" VMFA, Jan 1980 - June 1981
Artmobile, "Art of the 30's" VMFA, Jan 1980 - June 1981
©artist or artist’s estate
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.