''Achelous and Hercules'' is a 1947
mural painting
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...
by
Thomas Hart Benton. It depicts a bluejeans-wearing Heracles (Roman Hercules) wrestling with the horns of a bull, a shape the
protean
In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...
river god
Achelous
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Achelous (also Acheloos or Acheloios) (; Ancient Greek: Ἀχελώϊος, and later , ''Akhelôios'') was the god associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. According to Hesiod, he ...
was able to assume. The
myth
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
was one of the
explanations offered by
Greco-Roman mythology
Classical mythology, Greco-Roman mythology, or Greek and Roman mythology is both the body of and the study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans as they are used or transformed by reception theory, cultural reception. Along with Anc ...
for the origin of the
cornucopia
In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (), from Latin ''cornu'' (horn) and ''copia'' (abundance), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers ...
, a symbol of agricultural abundance. Benton sets the scene during harvest time in the
U.S. Midwest.
The mural was formerly displayed at a department store in
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, and is now in the collections of the
Smithsonian. It was the first of Benton's paintings on a river-related theme.
[Justin Wolff, ''Thomas Hart Benton: A Life'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), p. 287.]
Description
''Achelous and Heracles'' is displayed at the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, on the second floor of the north wing.
[Smithsonian American Art Museum, ''Achelous and Hercules'' collection]
information page
The painting was executed in
egg tempera
Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...
and
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
on canvas, and affixed to a
plywood
Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
panel measuring 62⅞ by 264⅛ inches (159.6 by 671 cm).
Elizabeth Broun
Elizabeth "Betsy" Broun (born December 15, 1946 in Kansas City) is an American art historian and curator. Broun served as the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum from 1989 to 2016, and is the longest-serving f ...
, director of the art museum, has described it as "raucous, gaudy, vibrant ... full of surging shapes and churning rhythms."
The central figure is the muscular, shirtless "Hercules" grappling with the horns of the bull. A second man, also wearing bluejeans and no shirt, stands by the bull's haunch and holds the end of a rope that swirls into another man's hand in the foreground, where the work of woodchopping has been interrupted. The bull's tail points into the surging, wavelike woods that rise out of the distance; a barn and silo emerge from the woods to the right. The undulating line of the rope and tail visually connect the woodlands and the timber produced from it.
The right half of the panel is dominated by a giant bounty-producing cornucopia on which a dark-haired woman reclines, leaning on her elbow with her eyes closed. Above her, a standing blonde with a less voluptuous figure holds aloft a wind-blown piece of red drapery, extending her right hand to offer a
laurel wreath
A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a sy ...
in mid-air. This section of the mural brings together two communicative gestures: the presentation of the wreath, and the salutation of a
silhouetted mule-mounted rider in the background who raises his hat in greeting or jubilation.
A darker-skinned boy, dressed in
overalls
Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Overalls were ...
, sits next to the women on the cornucopia and holds a white cone. He is mirrored to the far left of the mural by an adult African-American who leans on a split-rail fence and watches the scene, head lifted in poised anticipation. Three
sheaves rise up in the landscape behind him. A fourth sheaf appears in the foreground to the right, where a man kneels with a bushel of corn ears, ready to add to the harvest bounty. Finally, a
paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...
navigates the calm river in the background, another example of how the river is tamed.
Mythological tradition
The subject matter of ''Achelous and Hercules'' derives from a telling of the myth in
Thomas Bulfinch
Thomas Bulfinch (July 15, 1796 – May 27, 1867) was an American author born in Newton, Massachusetts, known best for ''Bulfinch's Mythology'', a posthumous combination of his three volumes of mythologies.
Life
Bulfinch belonged to a well-educat ...
's ''
Mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
.''
[Eldredge, ''John Steuart Curry,'' p. 20.] As a river god, Achelous normally provides "life-giving irrigation," but takes the form of a destructive bull at floodtime:
Hercules' conquest of the river-god was meant to evoke the taking of Missouri waterways by Kansas City pioneers; the horn that Hercules snaps from Achelous' head symbolizes the cornucopia of midwestern agriculture.Erika Doss
Erika Lee Doss is an American educator and author, having served as a professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
Doss received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1983, and "has held fellowships at t ...
, ''Benton, Pollock, and the Politics of Modernism: From Regionalism to Abstract Expressionism'' (University of Chicago Press, 1991), p. 365.
Deianira
Deianira, Deïanira, or Deianeira (; Ancient Greek: Δηϊάνειρα, ''Dēiáneira'', or , ''Dēáneira'', ), also known as Dejanira, is a Calydonian princess in Greek mythology whose name translates as "man-destroyer" or "destroyer of her hu ...
, over whom Hercules and Achelous fought, represents fecundity. She is seated on a
proleptic
Proleptic may refer to:
* Prolepsis
Prolepsis may refer to:
* Prolepsis (rhetoric), a figure of speech in which the speaker raises an objection and then immediately answers it
*Prolepsis (literary), anticipating action, a flash forward, see For ...
cornucopia—the bull's horn has yet to be severed—from which fruits and vegetables spill. The timber in the foreground provides an important natural resource while clearing the land for farming. The Midwest is envisioned as "abundant and fertile and full of promise."
"The story is thus applicable to our own land," Benton wrote in a pamphlet distributed at the store where the work was first mounted. "It fits our
Missouri River, which yet needs the attention of a Hercules."
Social context
''Achelous and Hercules'' was painted for display at
Harzfeld's
Harzfeld's was a Kansas City, Missouri-based department store chain specializing in women's and children's high-end apparel.
History
The company was founded in 1891, as "Parisian Cloak Company" by Siegmund Harzfeld and partner Ferdinand Siegel. H ...
department store in
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
.
[Doss, ''Benton, Pollock, and the Politics of Modernism'', p. 366.] The store specialized in
ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...
clothing for women, and Benton later acknowledged that it was strange to see his work "in an atmosphere of silk nighties, pink slips and perfume."
It was his first mural commission since his historical murals for the
Missouri State Capitol
The Missouri State Capitol is the home of the Missouri General Assembly and the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in Jefferson City at 201 West Capitol Avenue, it is the third capitol to be built in the city. ( ...
ten years before. In light of controversies over that project, Benton sought reassurance that Harzfeld's corporate president, Lester Siegel, would refrain from trying to exercise artistic control. Siegel in turn asked that Benton observe a certain degree of decorum.
After the store closed in 1984, its parent company
Allied Stores Corporation
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores ...
made a gift of it to the Smithsonian through the institution's Collections Acquisition Program.
The painting was among several of its time on the theme of "watery disaster,"
reflecting a concern with flood and water management that was addressed through
public works
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...
of the
Depression and post-Depression era. The economy of Kansas City in the 1940s was largely based on agriculture, which in turn was both dependent on the water supply and vulnerable to flooding from the Missouri and
Kaw river
The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...
s.
The
Army Corps of Engineers had begun flood-control efforts on the Missouri when Benton was creating the work, and American agricultural bounty was contributing to the
post-war
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...
rebuilding of Europe through the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
.
The mural was in part Benton's response to criticism from
H.W. Janson of the
nationalist ideology he perceived in the art of Benton and fellow
Regionalist painters.
[Doss, ''Benton, Pollock, and the Politics of Modernism'', pp. 364–365. Doss characterizes Benton as "the last living member of the regionalist ]triumvirate
A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...
that Janson was intent on seeing dead and buried" (p. 364), referring to John Steuart Curry
John Steuart Curry (November 14, 1897 – August 29, 1946) was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart B ...
and Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for '' American Gothic'' (193 ...
. A few weeks before Benton began work, Janson had published the second of two lengthy articles criticizing the Regionalists for "racial and national chauvinism." The mythologizing of Midwestern themes was intended to grant them a universal significance, but for Janson this approach recalled the recasting of Greek myths in contemporary settings under
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
[Cécile Whiting, ''Antifascism in American Art'' (Yale University Press, 1989), p. 128.]
Aesthetic considerations
''Achelous and Hercules'' also served as Benton's assertion of the
figurative mode in contrast to the
abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
of his former student
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
.
The critical reception of this effort was not always positive: "More often than not, ... Benton's mythic visions of the Midwest looked more lewd or awkward than eternally noble. ''Achelous and Hercules'' is unnaturally stylized, as Midwestern maids take balletic leaps through the air and farmers pose like
toreadors in a bullring."
References
External links
* Smithsonian American Art Museum, ''Achelous and Hercules'', Educational Insight
"Zoom It" feature* Elizabeth Broun, Smithsonian American Art Museum, "Celebrating American Abundance,
{{Thomas Hart Benton, state=expanded
Murals in the United States
20th-century allegorical paintings
Allegorical paintings by American artists
Paintings by Thomas Hart Benton
Paintings depicting Heracles
Culture of Kansas City, Missouri
1947 paintings
Paintings in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Cattle in art