Artists' preparatory studies

Model of statue of President Truman at Independence Square by sculptor Gilbert Franklin. From: Copied from photographs loaned to the Library by Mary Shaw Branton.

An unknown person holds aloft a test copy of the sketch of the lower part of the mural for the Harry S. Truman Library, "Independence and the Opening of the West," by Thomas Hart Benton.

Milton Perry, Harry S. Truman Library curator, holds up the sketch of the lower part of Thomas Hart Benton's mural "Independence and the Opening of the West".

Thomas Hart Benton at work on the mural sketch for the Truman Presidential Library at his studio in Kansas City, Missouri.

Clay model of the Thomas Hart Benton mural, "Independence and the Opening of the West." The mural was painted in the lobby of the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.

Sketch of the mural, "Independence and the Opening of the West," by Thomas Hart Benton.

Sketch of the mural, "Independence and the Opening of the West," by Thomas Hart Benton.

Sketch of the mural, "Independence and the Opening of the West," by Thomas Hart Benton.

Clay model of the Thomas Hart Benton mural, "Independence and the Opening of the West."

Sketch of the mural, "Independence and the Opening of the West," by Thomas Hart Benton.