Thomas Hart Benton’s (1889-1975) epic mural, America Today (1930-31) has found a new home at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. A sweeping panorama of American life, the work once lined a boardroom at the International-Style New School for Social Research on West 12th Street, which was designed by the Austrian architect, Joseph Urban (1872-1933).
The 10-panel mural, which was Benton’s first major commission, ushered in a new approach to mural painting, turning to the reality of everyday life for inspiration. America Today portrays American life prior to the Great Depression and features the flappers, farmers, steel workers, and stock market moguls that are readily associated with the period. The mural remains Benton’s best-known work and a masterpiece of modern art.
Benton, an American realist painter, drew inspiration for the mural from his travels around the United States in the 1920s. A glimpse into both rural and urban life at the time, America Today portrays the wealthy and poor as well as the progressive and traditional ideals that defined the era. While Benton did not receive a fee for the commission, the work opened the door for future commissions and helped inspire the Works Progress Administration mural programs that were implemented in the late 1930s.
Bought by the insurance company, AXA Equitable, nearly 30 years ago, America Today was in storage before the decision to donate the work was made. However, the Met is currently without extra exhibition space and the mural won’t be on view until at least 2015 when the museum takes over the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue. The Whitney is headed to its own larger space in the meatpacking district. America Today is the first artwork that Met officials have confirmed for the Breuer building.
