Smithsonian American Art Museum
On Watch: Benton and the U.S. Navy
April 1, 1989 – April 30, 1989
On view are 15 World War II-era paintings and drawings by American artist Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) that capture the intensity of life aboard a submarine and in a bustling wartime ship-building yard. Benton created the submarine works in 1943 while aboard the U.S.S. Dorado as it cruised in friendly waters, allowing the artist to experience daily life at sea. Benton made the shipbuilding series in 1944 while witnessing construction of an LST (landing ship for tanks) at the American Bridge Company's site in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
The works are on loan from the Navy Art Collection of the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C.
