New Neosho mural honors Thomas Hart Benton

A new mural is now gracing downtown Neosho. “A Social History of Thomas Hart Benton,” is a tribute to Neosho’s native son and famed regionalist painter, Thomas Hart Benton. It was painted on panels by area artist Jared Jennings at his home studio before being installed on the north side of Neosho’s City Hall on Tuesday October 17.

Jennings was inspired in elementary school to become an artist after viewing Benton’s murals at the Missouri State Capitol. “He’s a Neosho native who left and was able to achieve his dream of being an artist,” Jennings said.

“We are so excited to not only bring another public art work to our community but to also honor this world renowned artist who called Neosho home,” said Sarah Serio, president of Neosho Arts Council, the organization that sponsored the creation of this new mural.

“As an artist my goal is to create as honest of a visualization as possible of who an individual is or was, Jennings said. “When you’re talking about achieving that goal with an artist, they’re personal style is important in achieving that. So I wanted to recreate Benton’s style as much as I could.”

The mural features an older Benton at work painting. He is surrounded by nature with a train rushing behind him to the left and a horse racing to the right in the background.

“One of the really fascinating elements that Jared included in this mural is the tree and grass on the right,” Serio said. “In spots it’s a red-brown color. This was done on purpose to reference the maquette, or small clay models, that Benton sculpted and painted and then used as reference designs for his murals.”

Benton started his murals by drawing thumbnail sketches to get a rough design down, then he sculpted a maquette to work out the arrangement of the figures and the lighting, next he’d bring in models to pose for the figures while he sculpted a more detailed maquette and created comprehensive drawings. Then he’d scale up his drawings on the mural surface.

The Southern Belle style yellow train in this mural pays homage to Benton’s lifelong interest in trains. It also references the train Benton traveled to Neosho on in 1962 for the town’s Thomas Hart Benton Day celebration.

Neosho Arts Council is in the process of creating a descriptive audio guide for the mural so that it’s also accessible to blind and visually impaired community. “We will be adding the audio guide along with some process photos and additional information as part of our “Murals of Neosho Guide and Descriptive Audio Tour” which is always available on our website,” Serio said.

The community will formally welcome this new public art work with a ribbon cutting by the Neosho Area Chamber of Commerce on November 14 at 1:00pm. Everyone is invited to join the celebration and to take time to also view the art located inside City Hall.

“In 1962 when Benton returned for Thomas Hart Benton Day, he gifted twelve original lithographs to the citizens of Neosho,” Serio said. Those lithographs are on view in the lobby of Neosho City Hall. Neosho Arts Council has produced a guide to give a background on each piece plus it explains what a lithograph is and how it’s made.

The public can also view a second mural located inside Neosho City Hall. “Flower Box City” was painted in 2008 by Benton’s grandson, Anthony Benton Gude. The mural features scenes from Neosho during the first half of the 1900’s including Benton’s arrival in Neosho by train in 1962 for Thomas Hart Benton Day.