Lot 143: Scarce Thomas Hart Benton Signed Lithograph, New England Farm

Thomas Hart Benton (Missouri, 1889-1975) lithograph entitled "New England Farm" and depicting a Martha's Vineyard farmstead with two men loading hay into an ox-pulled cart, 1951. An old hay rake sits idly in the foreground and a farmhouse rises from the horizon line. Pencil signed lower right. From the intended edition of 300 published by The Friends of Art of Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas. Ref.: Fath 76. Housed under glass in a gilt and ebonized wood frame with gilt fillet and cream mat. Sheet: 12" H x 16" W. Framed: 25" H x 29" W. Note: Our research finds fewer than 20 impressions of this scarce print offered at auction since 1996, suggesting that the intended edition of 300 was never fully realized. Benton's caption in Creekmore Fath's "The Lithographs of Thomas Hart Benton" reads: "This is a haying scene on the Martha's Vineyard farm of Denys Wortman, famous N.Y. newspaper cartoonist."

CONDITION: Very good condition, will margins. Sheet is evenly toned within sight opening and hinged to mat with archival tape.