Night Firing (Tobacco Firing)

AAT Object Form/FunctionLithograph

Date1943

MediumLithograph

Credit LineGift of Dr. Noah D. Meadows Jr.

Dimensions8 11/16 x 13 1/16 in. (22.1 x 33.1 cm)

Object number1985.002

Label TextBenton was a Regionalist who strove to represent American culture and American values in his art. The laborer, tending the low fire for drying tobacco leaves, is one of the salt-of-the-earth figures that were the mainstay of Benton's work. This print is a study from a series commissioned by Lucky Strike cigarettes. Benton was dismayed when he realized his images were being used to improve the corporation's image, since this conflicted with his ardent support for the working class. He also found the restrictions of the commission stifling: the company did not want images of African-Americans performing any labor that might seem to recall slavery, or that showed whites working side by side with blacks, or figures that appeared in any way unhealthy. Benton, who felt it his mission to depict American life as he found it, was profoundly embittered by the experience.
Exhibition History19th and 20th Century Art in the Collection, Emory University of Art and Archaeology, July 20 - September 14, 1985
Selected Acquisitions: Asia to America, Emory University of Art and Archaeology, May 8 - August 8, 1987
American Regionalism: Benton, Wood & Curry, Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, Georgia, September 16 - November 28, 1993
President Chace's Office, Emory University, July 9 - November 9, 1995
Art History 102 Works on Paper Study Gallery Exhibition, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 14 - May 17, 1998
Cultivating America: Visions of the Landscape in Twentieth-Century Prints, Michael C. Carlos Museum, March 8 - June 29, 2008
The Eye, The Mind, and the Heart: In Honor of Clark Poling, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 15 - March 5, 2022
Published ReferencesMichael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 137.
MCCM Newsletter, March - May 2008.

ProvenanceEx coll. Dr. Noah D. Meadows, Jr. (1919-2012), Marietta, Georgia, acquired New York, New York, mid 1940s.

Status

Not on view

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