Thomas Hart Benton was among the most popular and acclaimed American painters. Often cited, along with Grant Wood, as a founder of what would be termed Regionalism, Benton is known for his highly modeled paintings and murals of American life. The son of a Missouri politician, Benton studied and worked in Paris and New York, adding to his education a modern sophistication that is often overlooked. By 1935, though, he would pack up and abandon New York, and the vanguard art community it represented, thinking it effete and irrelevant. His popularity only grew, and his work is well represented in both lasting murals and important private and public collections across the country. Though his work was, for a period, outshined by one of his star pupils, Jackson Pollock, Thomas Hart Benton has lost little popularity or relevance, and indeed is enjoying renewed interest for his uniquely modern look at American country life.