Cradling Wheat

A group of lean, muscular field hands harvest grain on a sunny hillside. The rise and bend of their activity through the undulating contours of the land emphasizes the intimate relationship between man and nature. The artist, Missourian Thomas Hart Benton, was known for elevating the life of the working class, making their everyday labors appear heroic. Benton sought to capture images of grassroots America, which he felt was rapidly disappearing due to industrialization. Certainly Cradling Wheat is nostalgic: the cradle scythe used by the farmer on the left to cut the grain would have been old-fashioned by the 1930s. In his description of Cradling Wheat Benton wrote, “Scene in the hill country of East Tennessee in 1928…doubt whether this kind of harvesting can be found anymore—anywhere.”