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 from 1938-1953. Under Decker's tenure in that position, he helped to grow the university many times over, and 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.