Planting,

1939

In this pair of prints, the renowned American muralist Thomas Hart Benton offers a sensitive view of African American subjects as part of the cultural and economic fabric of the ation. Huck Finn depicts the literary friendship fomented between two runaways on the Mississippi River—the young protagonist fleeing his drunken father and a slave escaping to freedom. Criticized as both racist and anti-racist, Mark Twain’s novel <em>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</em> contained one of the most recognized representations of an African American in popular culture. Representing relatable rual subjects was a guiding principle for Benton and his fellow Regionalists; the African American farmers seen in Planting were a quintessential theme. Like Twain’s prose, Benton’s artworks were controversial for their unvarnished depiction of American society.