Denys Wortman
Artist
Thomas Hart Benton
(American, 1889 - 1975)
Date1953
MediumOil on canvas mounted on board
Dimensions32 x 40 in. (81.3 x 101.6 cm)
Frame Dimension: 40 × 47 1/8 × 3 in. (101.6 × 119.7 × 7.6 cm)
Frame Dimension: 40 × 47 1/8 × 3 in. (101.6 × 119.7 × 7.6 cm)
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineStephen B. Lawrence Fund
Terms
Object number1954.01
DescriptionOn October 16, 1953, Collier’s Magazine printed the following:Thomas Hart Benton, of Kansas City, Missouri, is one of America’s most famous fine artists. Denys Wortman is a cartoonist, the creator of Mopey Dick and the Duke, a widely syndicated newspaper cartoon. Benton and Wortman have been meeting in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts…for the past 30 summers. They are great friends. But beetle-browed Tom Benton is a spirited soul who likes nothing better than a fight. Last month he challenged the placid Mr. Wortman to the most sophisticated duel since medieval poets flung verses at one another: he suggested that they oppose artistic talents in a match to see which of them could produce the better portrait of the other.
Wortman was reluctant, but he says: “Sitting for hours with that pirate glowering at me with his superanalytical stare and his sketchbook was too much for me. I had to defend myself.”
On View
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