Return of the Prodigal Son
The image portrays a desolate landscape where a man, embodying the prodigal son, stands in contemplation amidst a scene of decay and abandonment, with a dilapidated house and a broken car in the background, contrasted by the skeletal remains of a cow in the foreground, creating an atmosphere of lost prosperity and reflection on past choices under a swirling, dramatic sky.
Name/Title
Return of the Prodigal SonEntry/Object ID
2008.6.4Description
The son approaches a home with his trunk at his feet. The home appears abandoned, and the skeleton of a cow lies on the desolate ground. Created in 1939, Benton used a dilapidated house and the local area in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard where he and his family vacationed in the summer, as the subject for this work. The lithograph was a study for a painting made in 1940. The painting Prodigal Son is in the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas.Type of Print
LithographCategory
Vault, Biblical, Biblical People, New Testament, Landscape, Architecture
People
Made/Created
Artist
Thomas Hart BentonDate made
1939Dimensions
Dimension Description
image sizeHeight
10 inWidth
13 inDimension Description
frame sizeHeight
20-1/2 inWidth
23-1/2 inExhibitions
Prodigal Son: January 7 - February 7, 2009 Center Art Gallery, Calvin College:
Loan - Prodigal @ Dordt College – Sioux Center, IA: July 2 – October 8, 2010
Loan - Prodigal @ South Bend CRC – South Bend, IN: September 19 – November 11, 2011
Loan - Prodigal @ First Presbyterian Church – Midland, TX: February 22 – April 8, 2012
Loan - Prodigal @ Bella Vista Church – Rockford, MI: May 21 – July 23, 2012
Loan - Prodigal @ Elmhurst CRC, Elmhurst, IL January 10 – February 28, 2013
Loan - Prodigal @ First Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington DC September 3 – November 8, 2013
Loan - Prodigal @ First Presbyterian Church - Bonita Springs, Florida: March 10 - April 17, 2014
Permanent Collection Selections - Center Art Gallery, Calvin College: June 1 - August 15, 2015
Loan - Prodigal @ First Congregational Church - Rockford, MI: October 9 - November 16, 2015
Loan - Prodigal @ First Presbyterian Church - Tulsa OK: February 1 - April 18, 2016
Loan - Prodigal @ Muskegon Museum of Art – Muskegon, MI: December 8, 2016 - February 12, 2017
Loan - Prodigal Son @ 1st Presbyterian Church - Colorado Springs, CO: February 20 - April 21, 2017
Loan - Prodigal @ Sojourn Community Church - Louisville, KY: June 18 - August, 2018
Loan - Prodigal @ Grand Rapids Art Museum - Grand Rapids, MI: September 20-21, 2018
Prodigal Son: Gerbens Memorial Installation December 12, 2024 - February 10, 2025 Center Art Gallery