As for the painting, he said, “I’ll put it in storage.” So … where did it end up? Most likely as an undisclosed part of a private collection, it seems. The Thomas Hart Benton Home & Studio ...

Detractors, both past and present, dismissed Benton's art as "Okie baroque ... the name of his famous uncle -- the champion of Manifest Destiny, Senator Thomas Hart Benton -- upon his son.

His paintings were burly. Energetic. And as uncompromising as the Midwestern landscapes and laborers they celebrated. Thomas Hart Benton depicted a self-reliant America emerging from the Depression.

Fifty years after Thomas Hart Benton suffered a heart attack and died at age 85 while working in his Belleview Avenue studio, his legacy still resonates as one of the most significant American ...

Which leaves us with a trail apparently gone cold. The painting “Forward Pass” (1971) from Thomas Hart Benton, who sketched from the sidelines of Kansas City Chiefs games and practices.