Where can I see Louisiana Rice Fields?

Louisiana Rice Fields is held by Brooklyn Museum.

What movement is Louisiana Rice Fields?

Louisiana Rice Fields is associated with Regionalism.

Louisiana Rice Fields by Thomas Hart Benton (1928)

About this work

Subject & Meaning

Thomas Hart Benton's 1928 tempera painting Louisiana Rice Fields portrays the agricultural labor and rural landscape of Louisiana's rice cultivation.

Thomas Hart Benton's 1928 tempera painting Louisiana Rice Fields portrays the agricultural labor and rural landscape of Louisiana's rice cultivation. The work shows rice paddies, a tractor, and a wagon, symbolizing both the economic importance of rice farming and the mechanization of Southern agriculture in the early 20th century. Through its depiction of workers and machinery in the fields, the painting conveys themes of industry, regional identity, and the transformation of rural life, reflecting Benton's broader interest in American scene painting and the social realities of his time.

The composition emphasizes the vastness of the cultivated land, with the tractor and wagon suggesting modern agricultural practices intersecting with traditional labor. This subject matter aligns with Benton's role in the American Regionalist movement, which sought to capture the spirit and challenges of rural America during a period of significant change.

Technique & Style

Louisiana Rice Fields is executed in tempera, a medium Benton favored during the late 1920s, and the work also incorporates oil paint. The support is Masonite, a hardboard panel that lent itself to the smooth, enamel-like surface characteristic of Benton's tempera practice. Measuring 76.5 by 121.6 centimeters in a horizontal format, the painting belongs to the American Scene tradition, depicting rice cultivation in Louisiana with tractors and wagons working the fields.

The combination of tempera and oil on Masonite allowed Benton to render the flat, sunlit expanses of the rice country with crisp contours and saturated local color, hallmarks of his regionalist style at the moment of its emergence.

History & Provenance

Louisiana Rice Fields was painted by Thomas Hart Benton in 1928 in tempera on masonite. The work was acquired by the Brooklyn Museum, where it remains in the collection. No documented commission or preparatory history has been traced in the available sources.

Louisiana Rice Fields is held by the Brooklyn Museum, which owns the painting and lists it within its collection. According to Wikidata records for the work, the painting's location is identified as the Brooklyn Museum, confirming its institutional home.

No specific accession number is recorded in the available sources, and the provided documentation does not detail an exhibition history for the tempera work.

Context

Created in 1928, Louisiana Rice Fields by Thomas Hart Benton is a significant example of American scene painting. The work depicts agricultural labor in Louisiana, featuring elements such as rice fields, tractors, and wagons. As part of Benton's broader oeuvre, the painting reflects his focus on regionalist themes and the American heartland during the late 1920s.

Held in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, the piece contributes to the historical record of rural life and industrialization in the American South through its tempera and oil-on-masonite execution.

Legacy

Thomas Hart Benton's 1928 painting Louisiana Rice Fields entered the Brooklyn Museum's collection shortly after its creation, where it became a reference point for American scene painters emphasizing regional labor and landscape. The work's depiction of agricultural technology and Southern labor patterns influenced subsequent realist approaches to rural subjects, particularly in mid-century American art circles that prioritized social realism over abstraction. Its presence in a major institutional collection helped legitimize genre scenes portraying working-class life during a period when such narratives were often marginalized in favor of urban modernist subjects.

Overview

Louisiana Rice Fields is a 1928 tempera painting by Thomas Hart Benton, a prominent American Regionalist artist. The work is part of the Brooklyn Museum's collection.