American Art Collaborative

Jesse James and his brother Frank were legendary as contemporary Robin Hoods who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Here they are shown robbing a bank and a train. To add to the image’s realism, Thomas Hart Benton used Dan James, a descendant of the James lineage, as the model for the foreground figure. Benton was pleased enough with the outcome to issue one hundred prints of the lithograph "Jesse James" through the Associated American Artists Galleries in New York.