The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

G.O.P. Convention, Cleveland

G.O.P. Convention, Cleveland

1936
(American, 1889–1975)
Image: 35.6 x 51.5 cm (14 x 20 1/4 in.); Sheet: 37.4 x 53.2 cm (14 3/4 x 20 15/16 in.)
Art © T.H. Benton and R.P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Thomas Hart Benton was a lifelong Democrat, which may have informed the focus on drama and disorder throughout his drawings of the Republican National Convention.

Description

Thomas Hart Benton traveled to Cleveland during the summer of 1936 to attend the Republican National Convention and record its events through sketches. This drawing shows delegates engaged in a variety of activities, included whispered deal making and a scuffle that attracts the attention of a policeman. Benton used areas of crosshatching, parallel lines, and subtle shading to create a sense of drama, reducing the crowd of onlookers to a regular pattern of circular marks. The series of drawings was likely intended for reproduction in magazines, such as Life, although only one was ultimately published, in the journal Common Sense. Benton's dynamic and easily legible style lent itself to such illustrations and characterized the many depictions of American life that he made around this period.
  • by early 1950s-before 1995
    Private Collection, New York, NY
    ?-1995
    (Jordan-Volpe Gallery, Inc., New York, NY)
    December 4, 1995
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” December 20, 1995, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    "Museum Acquisitions." Drawing 17, nos. 4-6 (November 1995 - March 1996): 105. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 105
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 10, December 1996 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 7 archive.org
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 258-258, pp. 297-298; Reproduced: p. 259
    Mazow, Leo G. Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012. Mentioned: pp. 65-67; Reproduced: p. 66
  • Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).
  • {{cite web|title=G.O.P. Convention, Cleveland|url=false|author=Thomas Hart Benton|year=1936|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1995.70