John Steuart Curry
Encyclopedia
John Steuart Curry was an American painter
whose career spanned from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting life in his home state, Kansas
. Along with Thomas Hart Benton
and Grant Wood
, he was hailed as one of the three great painters of American Regionalism
of the first half of the twentieth century.
His family was very religious as were most people in Dunavant. Curry was encouraged to paint animals around the farm and at the age of twelve he had his first art lesson. In 1916 John entered the Kansas City Art Institute
, but after only a month there he transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago
, where he stayed for two years. In 1918 he attended Geneva College
in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
. After he graduated, Curry worked as an illustrator from 1921-1926. He worked for several magazines including Boys' Life
, St. Nicholas, County Gentleman,and The Saturday Evening Post
,.
In 1926 Curry spent a year in Paris studying the works of Gustave Courbet
, and Honoré Daumier
as well as the color techniques of Titian
and Rubens. After his return to the United States he settled in New York City and married Clara Derrick, shortly thereafter they moved to Westport, Connecticut
in 1924. Clara died in June 1932 and for the next two years Curry devoted his time to working in his studio. He traveled with the Ringling Brothers Circus
and during his time with them created his painting The Flying Cadonas. He remarried in 1934 to Kathleen Gould. The Federal Art Project
was instituted in 1934 as a way to give work to artists and alleviate the effects of the Great Depression
. In 1936, Curry was appointed as the first artist in residence at the Agricultural College of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. He was free to travel throughout the state and promote art in farming communities by providing personal instruction to students. This same year he was commissioned to paint a mural for the Department of Justice Building
and Main Interior Building
in Washington
. He was also commissioned by his home state of Kansas to paint a mural for the State Capitol at Topeka. Curry continued to work until he died of a heart attack at the age of 49 in 1946.
which included Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood; these men were hailed as the three great painters of Regionalism.
Regionalism was associated with the area beyond the Mississippi
, mainly Iowa
, Missouri
and Kansas
. The artists who were associated with Regionalism were concerned with rural nostalgia, and the American heartland. Regionalism was essentially a revolt against at least one major evil of the industrial revolution
: centralization. Centralization of manufacturing established low cost efficient factories and assembly line production, which promoted mass production and reduced individual characteristics. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929
, the Great Depression
heightened dissatisfaction with capitalism
. Rugged depictions of independent life with wide open space provided distractions for those in financial crisis. According to Meyer Schapiro
, "Regionalism
obscured the crucial forces of history, as defined by Marx
, and provided entertaining distractions from the realities facing oppressed people." Curry depicted representations of families surviving natural disaster in his man versus nature images. This theme was most certainly relevant during the Depression in the Midwest, which was thrown into economic turmoil due to lack job opportunities and income.Tornado Over Kansas reflects Curry's observance of nature and expresses his view of his home state, Kansas.
Curry was best known for his oil painting
s and mural
cycles. In August 1928 Curry painted Baptism in Kansas, which was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.
The painting was praised by the New York Times and earned Curry the attention of Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
. In 1931 Mrs. Vanderbilt Whitney purchased the painting for the Whitney Museum of American Art
in New York City, thus establishing him as a major artist. Baptism in Kansas reflected the fanatic religious sects that held open-air baptisms. These popular religious groups were part of the scene of rural life that Curry saw in Kansas. Traditional religious scenes are depicted by Curry with all the reverence one would expect from such a subject. No well known Baptismal representations by old world masters employ the unique compositional layout that Curry favors. Curry's painting was a shock to Easterners who would have never associated a baptism with full immersion or with a barn yard setting, but Curry painted what he was familiar with, as Lawrence Shmeckebrier said he "saw this scene as conceived and executed with sincere reverence and understanding of one who had lived it." Curry's religious painting is therefore an observance rather than a satire on religious fundamentalism.
Under Mrs. Whitney's patronage Curry painted Tornado Over Kansas, which depicts a farmer facing an approaching tornado while his wife helps the family and pets into the tornado shelter. The painting was unveiled in 1929 just before the Wall Street Crash in October and provided those in the city with the romance of man versus nature themes. During the 1930s Curry's work embraced the heartland of America and focused in particular on his home state of Kansas. He depicted scenes of labor, family, and land, in order to demonstrate peace, struggle, and perseverance that he had come to believe was the essence of American life. Curry's works were painted with movement which was conveyed by the free brush work and energized forms (that characterized his style.) His control over brushstrokes created excited emotions such as fear and despair in his paintings. His fellow Regionalists who also painted action and movement influenced Curry's style.
s designed for the Kansas State Capitol
, in Topeka, Kansas
. In June 1937, newspaper editors raised money to commission John Steuart Curry (who was the most famous artist in Kansas) to paint murals in the statehouse. Curry's design was divided into three themes: first the Settlement of Kansas, which depicted the Conquistadors and the Plainsmen; second the Life of a Homesteader, which would depict John Brown
; and third, Pastoral Prosperity which would include scenes of modern Kansas. Curry wanted to be free to express his own ideas regarding the murals: "I have my own ideas about telling the story of pioneers coming into Kansas. I want to paint this war with nature and I want to paint the things I feel as a native Kansan." Political controversy stalled the completion of the murals. Expensive Italian marble slabs covered the spot in the rotunda where the eight panels depicting scenes from the Life of the Kansas Homesteader were to be painted. The legislative committee refused to move them from the wall to make way for Curry's mural. However, behind the refusal were two real issues with Curry's paintings, the first being that Curry's factual details were incorrect. For instance, "they criticized the tails of his animals calling them not natural- like." In Curry's opinion, those problems could be easily fixed. However, with the next issue the committee had an even stronger objection; and that was the image of Kansan abolitionist John Brown
in front of a crowd of people and a tornado. In particular, the committee objected to the blood on John Brown's hands, the prairie fires, and tornadoes. These inclusions were thought by some to show the state in a negative light due to the fact that Brown, who was executed for leading a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia
, in 1859, was considered by some to be a traitor and a murderer. Curry tried to explain that while the blood on Brown's hands was not literal, his acts caused bloodshed, and that the tornado was a symbol of the abolitionist's passion. However, the people of Kansas saw its inclusion as a negative statement about bad weather. In his presentation to the people, Curry expressed that he wanted to get into his pictures the iron that is the Kansas people; not a soft, soppy presentation. When rejected, Curry in anger left the finished murals unsigned at his death in 1946. Since Curry's death, his murals have come to be regarded as on par with similar works done by his contemporary Thomas Hart Benton
.
kind that Diego Rivera
popularized in the 1930s. Curry avoided exploiting the controversial subjects in which Rivera became involved because, he did not believe they added any artistic quality to his work. However, Curry did create a few political sketches or studies, but these were never expanded on for larger projects. Rather, he enjoyed observing public events and capturing them on paper.
Curry's few semi-political paintings evolved out of his personal experiences rather than created as a display of social commentary. The Return of Private Davis completed in 1940 was first witnessed near his home in 1918, and a similar study was made in France during 1926. Schmeckenbier relates this painting to the Baptism: "a rural religious ceremony whose tragedy is intensified by the realization that this son of the fresh green Kansas prairies was sacrificed on a battlefield whose ideological remoteness was as dramatic as its geographical makeup." The painting does not express a political spectacle, rather Curry's personal feelings. Conversely, Parade to War depicts departing soldiers rather than the return of a victim of war. Curry was working in a time period fraught with turmoil; he was working during the Great Depression
, which was flanked on each side by a World War
. He was inspired by a massive anti-war
sentiment that was reflected in literary works such as All Quiet on the Western Front
. Curry experienced personally the effects of war and portrays personal tragedy, suffering and death in these paintings.
Along with war scenes Curry also produced a number of manhunt and fugitive subjects. These ideas were inspired by remembrances from his own childhood, but were also observed from publicized events during the early 1930s. The Lindbergh kidnapping
and John Dillinger
's crime spree were well known and public deaths such as lynching
s were often the result of such crimes. These earlier political works would influence later Curry's mural work in the Department of Justice Building.
needed Curry's paintings as much as it needed other proponents of stereotypes such as the Wizard of Oz
, which was released in 1939. However, New York audiences were fascinated by Curry's paintings. They were exhausted by the commercialization that surrounded their everyday lives and Curry's paintings were entertaining and allowed them to view a more primitive and isolated version of America. Only recently, with the (1992) Statehouse purchase of the drawings related to his murals has Curry's work become appreciated by residents of Kansas.
1991.
John Steuart Curry: A Catalogue of Reason, edited by Sylvan Cole Jr. New York: Basso
Printing Corporation, 1976.
Czestochowski, Joseph S. John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood: A Portrait of Rural America. Columbia: University of Missouri Press and Cedar Rapids Art Association, 1981.
Dennis, James M. Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart
Benton, and John Steuart Curry. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998.
Junker, Patricia. John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West. Artizona: Traditional
Fine Arts Organization Inc., 2005.
Kendall, M. Sue. Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural
Controversy. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institutian Press, 1986.
Mayer, Lance and Gay Myers. "Old Master Recipes in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s: Curry, Marsh,
Doerner, and Maroger." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 41, no. 1
(Spring, 2002): 21-42.
Schmeckebier, Laurence. "John Steuart Curry" Obituaries, College Art Journal. College Art Association v.6.1(1946): 59-60.
Schmeckebier, Lawrence E. John Steuart Curry's Pageant of America. American Artists Group
Inc., 1943.
KSHS."Curry's Statehouse Studies" Kansas State Historical Society.http://www.kshs.org/cool2/curry.htm
PBS. "Online News Hour: John Steuart Curry" PBS. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec98/curry_8-13.html
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
whose career spanned from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting life in his home state, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. Along with Thomas Hart Benton
Thomas Hart Benton (painter)
Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States...
and Grant Wood
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born four miles east of Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his...
, he was hailed as one of the three great painters of American Regionalism
Regionalism (art)
Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s. The artistic focus was from artists who shunned city life, and rapidly developing technological advances, to create scenes of rural life...
of the first half of the twentieth century.
Biography
Curry was born on a farm in Dunavant, Kansas, November 14, 1897. He was the eldest of five children to parents Smith and Margaret Curry. Despite growing up on a Midwestern farm, both of Curry's parents were college educated and had even visited Europe for their honeymoon. Curry's early life consisted of caring for the animals on the farm, attending the nearby high school and excelling in athletics. His childhood home was filled with many reproductions of Peter Paul Rubens and Gustav Doré, and these artist's styles played a significant role in crafting John Curry's own style.His family was very religious as were most people in Dunavant. Curry was encouraged to paint animals around the farm and at the age of twelve he had his first art lesson. In 1916 John entered the Kansas City Art Institute
Kansas City Art Institute
The Kansas City Art Institute is a private, independent, four-year college of fine arts and design founded in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri....
, but after only a month there he transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, where he stayed for two years. In 1918 he attended Geneva College
Geneva College
Geneva College is a Christian liberal arts college in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1848, in Northwood, Ohio, the college moved to its present location in 1880, where it continues to educate a student body of about 1400 traditional undergraduates in...
in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,987 at the 2010 census. It is located 31 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, and on the Beaver River, six miles from its confluence with the Ohio River...
. After he graduated, Curry worked as an illustrator from 1921-1926. He worked for several magazines including Boys' Life
Boys' Life
Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America . Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18.Boys' Life is published in two demographic editions...
, St. Nicholas, County Gentleman,and The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
,.
In 1926 Curry spent a year in Paris studying the works of Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...
, and Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century....
as well as the color techniques of Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
and Rubens. After his return to the United States he settled in New York City and married Clara Derrick, shortly thereafter they moved to Westport, Connecticut
Westport, Connecticut
-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
in 1924. Clara died in June 1932 and for the next two years Curry devoted his time to working in his studio. He traveled with the Ringling Brothers Circus
Ringling Brothers Circus
The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert , August , Otto , Alfred T. , Charles , John , and Henry...
and during his time with them created his painting The Flying Cadonas. He remarried in 1934 to Kathleen Gould. The Federal Art Project
Federal Art Project
The Federal Art Project was the visual arts arm of the Great Depression-era New Deal Works Progress Administration Federal One program in the United States. It operated from August 29, 1935, until June 30, 1943. Reputed to have created more than 200,000 separate works, FAP artists created...
was instituted in 1934 as a way to give work to artists and alleviate the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. In 1936, Curry was appointed as the first artist in residence at the Agricultural College of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. He was free to travel throughout the state and promote art in farming communities by providing personal instruction to students. This same year he was commissioned to paint a mural for the Department of Justice Building
Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Justice.The building is located at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, on a trapezoidal lot on the block bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue to the north, Constitution Avenue to the south,...
and Main Interior Building
Main Interior Building
The Main Interior Building, also known as the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building, located in Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the United States Department of the Interior....
in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. He was also commissioned by his home state of Kansas to paint a mural for the State Capitol at Topeka. Curry continued to work until he died of a heart attack at the age of 49 in 1946.
Regionalism
Curry was part of the Midwestern Triumvirate of American RegionalismRegionalism (art)
Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s. The artistic focus was from artists who shunned city life, and rapidly developing technological advances, to create scenes of rural life...
which included Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood; these men were hailed as the three great painters of Regionalism.
Regionalism (art)
Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s. The artistic focus was from artists who shunned city life, and rapidly developing technological advances, to create scenes of rural life...
Regionalism was associated with the area beyond the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, mainly Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. The artists who were associated with Regionalism were concerned with rural nostalgia, and the American heartland. Regionalism was essentially a revolt against at least one major evil of the industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
: centralization. Centralization of manufacturing established low cost efficient factories and assembly line production, which promoted mass production and reduced individual characteristics. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
heightened dissatisfaction with capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. Rugged depictions of independent life with wide open space provided distractions for those in financial crisis. According to Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art...
, "Regionalism
Regionalism (art)
Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that was popular during the 1930s. The artistic focus was from artists who shunned city life, and rapidly developing technological advances, to create scenes of rural life...
obscured the crucial forces of history, as defined by Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, and provided entertaining distractions from the realities facing oppressed people." Curry depicted representations of families surviving natural disaster in his man versus nature images. This theme was most certainly relevant during the Depression in the Midwest, which was thrown into economic turmoil due to lack job opportunities and income.Tornado Over Kansas reflects Curry's observance of nature and expresses his view of his home state, Kansas.
Paintings
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
s and mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
cycles. In August 1928 Curry painted Baptism in Kansas, which was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The painting was praised by the New York Times and earned Curry the attention of Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was an American sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City...
. In 1931 Mrs. Vanderbilt Whitney purchased the painting for the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
in New York City, thus establishing him as a major artist. Baptism in Kansas reflected the fanatic religious sects that held open-air baptisms. These popular religious groups were part of the scene of rural life that Curry saw in Kansas. Traditional religious scenes are depicted by Curry with all the reverence one would expect from such a subject. No well known Baptismal representations by old world masters employ the unique compositional layout that Curry favors. Curry's painting was a shock to Easterners who would have never associated a baptism with full immersion or with a barn yard setting, but Curry painted what he was familiar with, as Lawrence Shmeckebrier said he "saw this scene as conceived and executed with sincere reverence and understanding of one who had lived it." Curry's religious painting is therefore an observance rather than a satire on religious fundamentalism.
Under Mrs. Whitney's patronage Curry painted Tornado Over Kansas, which depicts a farmer facing an approaching tornado while his wife helps the family and pets into the tornado shelter. The painting was unveiled in 1929 just before the Wall Street Crash in October and provided those in the city with the romance of man versus nature themes. During the 1930s Curry's work embraced the heartland of America and focused in particular on his home state of Kansas. He depicted scenes of labor, family, and land, in order to demonstrate peace, struggle, and perseverance that he had come to believe was the essence of American life. Curry's works were painted with movement which was conveyed by the free brush work and energized forms (that characterized his style.) His control over brushstrokes created excited emotions such as fear and despair in his paintings. His fellow Regionalists who also painted action and movement influenced Curry's style.
Murals
Curry's most famous works were the muralMural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s designed for the Kansas State Capitol
Kansas State Capitol
The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for the U.S. state of Kansas. It is located in the city of Topeka which has served as the capital of Kansas since it became a state in 1861...
, in Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
. In June 1937, newspaper editors raised money to commission John Steuart Curry (who was the most famous artist in Kansas) to paint murals in the statehouse. Curry's design was divided into three themes: first the Settlement of Kansas, which depicted the Conquistadors and the Plainsmen; second the Life of a Homesteader, which would depict John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
; and third, Pastoral Prosperity which would include scenes of modern Kansas. Curry wanted to be free to express his own ideas regarding the murals: "I have my own ideas about telling the story of pioneers coming into Kansas. I want to paint this war with nature and I want to paint the things I feel as a native Kansan." Political controversy stalled the completion of the murals. Expensive Italian marble slabs covered the spot in the rotunda where the eight panels depicting scenes from the Life of the Kansas Homesteader were to be painted. The legislative committee refused to move them from the wall to make way for Curry's mural. However, behind the refusal were two real issues with Curry's paintings, the first being that Curry's factual details were incorrect. For instance, "they criticized the tails of his animals calling them not natural- like." In Curry's opinion, those problems could be easily fixed. However, with the next issue the committee had an even stronger objection; and that was the image of Kansan abolitionist John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
in front of a crowd of people and a tornado. In particular, the committee objected to the blood on John Brown's hands, the prairie fires, and tornadoes. These inclusions were thought by some to show the state in a negative light due to the fact that Brown, who was executed for leading a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an attempt by white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt by seizing a United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia in 1859...
, in 1859, was considered by some to be a traitor and a murderer. Curry tried to explain that while the blood on Brown's hands was not literal, his acts caused bloodshed, and that the tornado was a symbol of the abolitionist's passion. However, the people of Kansas saw its inclusion as a negative statement about bad weather. In his presentation to the people, Curry expressed that he wanted to get into his pictures the iron that is the Kansas people; not a soft, soppy presentation. When rejected, Curry in anger left the finished murals unsigned at his death in 1946. Since Curry's death, his murals have come to be regarded as on par with similar works done by his contemporary Thomas Hart Benton
Thomas Hart Benton (painter)
Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States...
.
Political art
Curry's art in general was conservative in political content. He believed that art was for the common person. He did not believe in political propaganda, particularly the MarxistMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
kind that Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
popularized in the 1930s. Curry avoided exploiting the controversial subjects in which Rivera became involved because, he did not believe they added any artistic quality to his work. However, Curry did create a few political sketches or studies, but these were never expanded on for larger projects. Rather, he enjoyed observing public events and capturing them on paper.
Curry's few semi-political paintings evolved out of his personal experiences rather than created as a display of social commentary. The Return of Private Davis completed in 1940 was first witnessed near his home in 1918, and a similar study was made in France during 1926. Schmeckenbier relates this painting to the Baptism: "a rural religious ceremony whose tragedy is intensified by the realization that this son of the fresh green Kansas prairies was sacrificed on a battlefield whose ideological remoteness was as dramatic as its geographical makeup." The painting does not express a political spectacle, rather Curry's personal feelings. Conversely, Parade to War depicts departing soldiers rather than the return of a victim of war. Curry was working in a time period fraught with turmoil; he was working during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, which was flanked on each side by a World War
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
. He was inspired by a massive anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
sentiment that was reflected in literary works such as All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
. Curry experienced personally the effects of war and portrays personal tragedy, suffering and death in these paintings.
Along with war scenes Curry also produced a number of manhunt and fugitive subjects. These ideas were inspired by remembrances from his own childhood, but were also observed from publicized events during the early 1930s. The Lindbergh kidnapping
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
and John Dillinger
John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
's crime spree were well known and public deaths such as lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
s were often the result of such crimes. These earlier political works would influence later Curry's mural work in the Department of Justice Building.
Reactions
Despite popularity among the rest of the country, native Kansans were less than thrilled with his works. What Curry believed to be images that expressed positive virtues about the place he remembered from childhood were conceived to be making fun of the worst aspects of the state. Kansans found the inclusion of outdoor baptisms and tornados to perpetuate negative stereotypes associated with Kansas and lead to public embarrassment. Curry had sought to capture the pastoral serenity of the Kansas landscape but when these paintings were displayed in New York galleries the already overwhelming inferiority complex among Kansans grew and they were humiliated by Curry's paintings. Resentment grew, as the chamber of commerceChamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
needed Curry's paintings as much as it needed other proponents of stereotypes such as the Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, which was released in 1939. However, New York audiences were fascinated by Curry's paintings. They were exhausted by the commercialization that surrounded their everyday lives and Curry's paintings were entertaining and allowed them to view a more primitive and isolated version of America. Only recently, with the (1992) Statehouse purchase of the drawings related to his murals has Curry's work become appreciated by residents of Kansas.
List of Art Works
- Baptism in Kansas, oil on canvas, 1928, Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York City. - Corn, oil on canvas, 1935, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KansasWichita, KansasWichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
. - Storm Over Lake Otsego, oil on canvas, 1929, collection of Mrs. Polly Thayer Starr, Boston, Massachusetts.
- Spring Shower, oil on canvas, 1931, Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, New York City. - The Flying Cadonas, oil and tempera on panel, 1932, Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York City. - The Line Storm, oil and tempera on panel, 1934, collection of Sidney Howard, New York.
- The Medicine Man, oil on canvas, 1931, collection of William Benton, Chicago, Illinois.
- The Roadworkers Camp, oil on canvas, 1929, F.M. Hall Collection, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
- The Runaway, oil on canvas, 1932, collection of Bryn Mawr CollegeBryn Mawr CollegeBryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. - Tornado Over Kansas, oil on canvas, 1929, Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MichiganMuskegon, MichiganMuskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County...
. - Madison Landscape, oil and tempera on canvas, 1941, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
- The Old Folks (Mother and Father), oil on canvas, 1929, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH.
Exhibitions
- "A Celebration of Rural America", September 9, – October 28, 2007, Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, Danville, Virginia.
- "Collective Images: the sketchbooks of John Steuart Curry", February 23, – May 5, 2002, Worchester Art Museum, Worchester, Massachusetts.
- "Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland" February 18, – April 30, 2000, Columbus Museum of ArtColumbus Museum of ArtThe Columbus Museum of Art is an art museum located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio.-Building:...
, Columbus, Ohio. - "John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West", June 13, – August 30, 1998, M. H. de Young Memorial MuseumM. H. de Young Memorial MuseumThe M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, commonly called simply the de Young Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It is named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H...
, San Francisco, California. - "The American Century: Art & Culture 1900-2000", April 23, 1999, Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York, New York.
Sources
John Steuart Curry: Rural America, edited by Mongerson Wunderlich. Chicago: ACA Galleries,1991.
John Steuart Curry: A Catalogue of Reason, edited by Sylvan Cole Jr. New York: Basso
Printing Corporation, 1976.
Czestochowski, Joseph S. John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood: A Portrait of Rural America. Columbia: University of Missouri Press and Cedar Rapids Art Association, 1981.
Dennis, James M. Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart
Benton, and John Steuart Curry. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998.
Junker, Patricia. John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West. Artizona: Traditional
Fine Arts Organization Inc., 2005.
Kendall, M. Sue. Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural
Controversy. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institutian Press, 1986.
Mayer, Lance and Gay Myers. "Old Master Recipes in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s: Curry, Marsh,
Doerner, and Maroger." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 41, no. 1
(Spring, 2002): 21-42.
Schmeckebier, Laurence. "John Steuart Curry" Obituaries, College Art Journal. College Art Association v.6.1(1946): 59-60.
Schmeckebier, Lawrence E. John Steuart Curry's Pageant of America. American Artists Group
Inc., 1943.
KSHS."Curry's Statehouse Studies" Kansas State Historical Society.http://www.kshs.org/cool2/curry.htm
PBS. "Online News Hour: John Steuart Curry" PBS. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec98/curry_8-13.html
External links
- John Steuart Curry / Baptism in Kansas / 1928 at www.davidrumsey.com| The AMICA Library- John Steuart Curry
- PBS Online News Hour - John Steuart Curry
- Muskegon (Michigan, USA) Museum of Art housing Tornado Over Kansas (1929)
- John Steuart Curry boyhood home & museum
- John Curry Artwork Examples on AskART.
- Don Anderson papers relating to John Steuart Curry, 1942-1973 from the Smithsonian Archives of American ArtArchives of American ArtThe Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 16 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washington, D.C...