Lithographs of Thomas Hart Benton: The Clarence R. Decker Collection

Circle Auction is proud to offer an outstanding collection of lithographs by artist Thomas Hart Benton, assembled by the late Dr. Clarence R. Decker, the president of the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) from 1938-1953. The university grew many times over under Decker's tenure, as he played an instrumental role in its accreditation. Decker created a program inviting visiting artists including Benton. Creekmore Fath's catalogue raisonne of Benton prints notes that Decker commissioned the lithograph "Prayer Meeting" (1949), circulated by the UMKC bookstore.