The Fence Mender

Traveling across the country, Benton often set out to find episodes that highlighted uniqueness. In some instances, however, the art that resulted from his travels underscored commonalities. The man in this lithograph is not merely a representation of one farmer whom Benton observed in the middle of Nebraska. Rather, he takes on a universal quality. Silhouetted against a cloud-filled sky, this lone fence mender stands for countless others in an image Benton described as a “common scene where there are barbed wire fences.”