Description

Description: In two chatty autograph letters signed, Rita Piacenza Benton (the artist Thomas Hart Benton’s wife) writes to cousin Blanche Lonegreen about their summer home on Martha’s Vineyard with their children and grandchildren. She talks about her daughter Jennie (who lives in Fort Hill Commune) and their delightful grandchildren who leave a “great void”; their son T.P. (a trained musician) so named as “There were too many Toms in the family.” About her husband, she says, “Tom has had a very productive summer, and he is in great shape.” She also begins one letter “Tomorrow is Tom’s birthday he will be 85 years old. This past week he signed a contract to do another mural 6 x10 feet for Nashville Tennessee. /So you see he is in great shape.”

Both letters are signed “Rita” and are written on sheets of 10 ½″ x 7 ¼″ white paper, one of which is imprinted “Mrs. Thomas Hart Benton Chilmark, Massachusetts Island of Martha’s Vineyard”. They are dated Aug 28, 1971 and April 14, 1974. Also included is one transmittal envelope, news clippings, a Christmas postcard from Tom and Rita, and two miscellaneous postcards. Item #A01879

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), the American artist and muralist, was a full member of the National Academy of Design. He is most associated with his embrace of the Regionalist art movement.

Condition: In very good condition.