Martha's Vineyard

early 1920s

An “enemy of modernism”: the turn to Regionalism

Back in New York, he declares himself an “enemy of modernism” and begins the naturalistic, representational work known as Regionalism. He tours America making sketches and ink wash drawings of what he sees, returning to them again and again as reference for future paintings.

1926

Birth of his son, Thomas

A son is born, Thomas Piacenza Benton (1926–2010). From the age of three to nine the boy attends the City and Country School in New York in exchange for his father's teaching art there; Benton will later include the school's founder, Caroline Pratt, in one of the panels of “America Today”.

1926–1935

Employed by: Art Students League of New York

late 1920s – early 1930s

Jackson Pollock among his students

Among Benton's students at the Art Students League of New York is Jackson Pollock, the future founder of Abstract Expressionism. Pollock often said that Benton's traditional teaching gave him something to rebel against.