This was a fantastic overview - a readable 'coffee table' book. It is large, too heavy to hold comfortably. If limited to one volume to review Benton, or Regionalism as a whole, this would be my easy choice. ( )

A sumptuously gorgeous study of one of my favorite artists, Thomas Hart Benton. He was a complex, headstrong and frequently self-involved man and controversial as an artist, but he lived long enough to see his art become praised by the critics, fade into obscurity, and enjoy a rebirth of critical and popular acclaim as an old man. He was the center of the artist colony on Martha's Vineyard, and developed relationships with several other artists of the day, including Jackson Pollock and John Steuart Curry. I was particularly pleased to find this book for $3 at an estate sale, months after declining to buy it for $50 at the rare book section of the St. Louis Book Fair. ( )