Thomas Hart Benton declared his belief before the Federation of Arts in 1932: "No American art can come to those who do not live an American life, who do not have an American psychology, and who cannot find in America justification of their lives".

Born in Missouri in 1889, Benton was likely the most important artist of the American Scene Movement. Although he is famous primarily for his murals and paintings, his lithographic works are very important also, as they capture what interested Benton most, the lives of simple people in rural America. One of his most famous murals is in the Truman Memorial Library in Independence.

Working for the summer at age 17, his first job was a cartoonist for the Joplin American in Missouri. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, spent three years in Paris, resided briefly in New York City- finally settling in Kansas City. There he worked as an instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute where his most famous pupil, Jackson Pollock, was influenced.

Thomas Hart Benton was a very intelligent, energetic, hard drinking character, who often found himself in the middle of controversy. In the early years, Benton traveled extensively with his father, Col. M.E. Benton, a Missouri congressman, on the campaign trail through the cities and byways of rural America. From this political background grew a deep love for his country and a respect for its working class people, which he immortalized with his paintings and lithographs. Fellow Missourian and former US President Harry Truman said that Benton was "the best damned painter in America." Thomas Hart Benton died January 19, 1975 in his studio at the age of 86.