Trail Riders

1964-1965

Thomas Hart Benton

Painter, American, 1889 - 1975

From a high vantage point, we look across a valley that rises gently to either side in front of a tall, snowy mountain peak flanked by looming ridges in this horizontal, landscape painting. The curve of the land, the tree branches, and the sinewy lines of the snow along the crevices of the ridges are exaggerated, giving the scene a slightly stylized look. Tiny in scale, three widely spaced horses, two with riders, move from left to right along the valley. The ridge faces are dark earth brown and the snow is pale blue where the sun shines on it, from our right. The face of the narrow, central peak is violet purple, and the sharp tip nearly touches the top edge of the canvas.
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Late in his career Thomas Hart Benton concentrated on landscapes, many of which were inspired by sketching trips to rural areas. Although most of these represented farming activities, he was also attracted to spectacular mountain vistas like the one depicted in Trail Riders. The painting was inspired by a 1964 trip that Benton took with his good friend the Kansas City attorney Lyman Field to the Canadian Rockies. The artist recollected that they had ridden from Banff to Mount Assiniboine in nine-and-a-half hours over the course of two days, his first horseback trip in more than 30 years.

Mount Assiniboine is located on the Continental Divide on the border between Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia and Banff National Park in Alberta. The highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, it is known as “the Matterhorn of North America” because of its triangular shape. Benton represented himself and his traveling companion as miniscule figures on horseback at the bottom of the composition, dwarfed by the majestic landscape.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Artist

  • Dimensions

    overall: 142.6 x 188 cm (56 1/8 x 74 in.)
    framed: 171.5 x 216.9 x 5 cm (67 1/2 x 85 3/8 x 1 15/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1975.42.1

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  American Paintings, 1900–1945: Trail Riders, 1964-1965

This nearly square painting shows an industrial area with buildings, storage silos, a smokestack, and railroad tracks. A mound of brown dirt or other material is in shadow in the lower left corner of the painting. Next to the mound, railroad tracks extend diagonally from the lower center of the painting into the distance to our right. The tracks end at a white building with staggered gray rooflines to our right in the distance. A tall terracotta-red smokestack rises high beyond the white building, smoke pouring out of its top and blending into the clouds above. Just beyond the mound of dirt, piles of white material, perhaps in unseen bins, line the railroad track to our left and lead back to a row ten interconnected, coral-orange silos. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and it is lined with a row of long white and gray warehouses. The artist signed and dated the work with brown paint in the lower right corner: “Sheeler 31.”

Scholarly Series:  American Paintings, 1900–1945

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1889-1975]; his bequest to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1974

  • Our Land, Our Sky, Our Water, International Exposition, Spokane, Washington, 1974, no. 119.

1981

  • American Painting, 1930-1980, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1981.

  • Benton's Bentons, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, 1981.

1984

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador John Gavin, U.S. Embassy residence, Mexico City, Mexico, 1984-1987.

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Malcolm R. Wilkey, U.S. Embassy residence, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1987-1989.

1989

  • Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City;The Detroit Institute of Arts; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Los Angeles Museum of Art, 1989-1990.

1991

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Edward Madigan, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1991.

1993

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Mike Espy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1993-1995.

1998

  • Treasures of Light: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, March-April 1998, no catalogue.

  • American Light: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, May-August 1998, no catalogue.

2000

  • Unending Frontier: Art of the West, The Grand Rapids Art Museum, 2000, no. 43, repro.

2009

  • Extended loan for use by President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, D.C., 2009.

2013

  • Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington; El Paso Museum of Art; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, 2013-2015, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2015

  • American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; Milwaukee Art Museum, 2015-2016, pl. 30.

Bibliography

1969

  • Fath, Creekmore. The Lithographs of Thomas Hart Benton. Austin, 1969: 218.

1974

  • Baigell, Matthew. Thomas Hart Benton. New York, 1974: pl. 211.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 28, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 58, color repro.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 182, no. 68, color repro.

1989

  • Adams, Henry. Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original. Exh. cat. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 1989: 327, 330, color repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 33, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Benton '64-65

Wikidata ID

Q20196192

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