John Steuart Curry Watercolor Painting of Street Scene, Early 20th Century

Item Details

John Steuart Curry (American, 1897-1946)
Untitled, early 20th century
Watercolor painting on paper
Signed to the lower right

John Steuart Curry is considered one of the three elite artists of American Regionalism, along with Thomas Hart Benton (1889 – 1975) and Grant Wood (1891 – 1942). He was born in Dunavant, Kansas, and is known primarily for his depictions of rural life in the American Midwest through oil painting and murals. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Geneva College, before starting work as an illustrator for magazines such as Boy’s Life, County Gentleman, and The Saturday Evening Post. After the death of his first wife in 1932, Curry spent two years traveling with and painting scenes of the Ringling Brothers Circus. With the establishment of the Federal Art Project in 1934, he began commissioned work on murals and was established as artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among his most well-known works is his controversial mural Tragic Prelude in the Kansas State Capitol, depicting the Abolitionist John Brown and the Bleeding Kansas unrest leading up to the Civil War; it was met with harsh criticism from the state legislature, and ultimately left unsigned by Curry, and it wasn’t until the Statehouse purchased the drawings for his mural designs in 1992 that his work was recognized as appreciated by residents of Kansas, despite the popularity and renown he had gained throughout the rest of the country during his lifetime.

Condition

- wear to edges of frame; heavy toning to paper; foxing to paper; dust and accretions present to glass and frame; mat burn to paper.

Dimensions

- measures frame; sight measures 21" W x 13" H.

• Item not examined outside of mounting.

Item #

ITMG822766