The Hunter

In 1941 Twentieth Century Fox commissioned Benton to create lithographs based on Vereen Bell’s novel Swamp Water, which the studio was bringing to the silver screen. With a background devoid of any of Benton’s signature swelling clouds or rolling terrain, this lithograph focuses on young Ben Ragan, the novel and film’s protagonist, and his hound. The Hunter is one of six Benton prints that publicized the film, set in the Okefenokee Swamp, which became an immediate sensation in the South.