John Steuart Curry

(American, 1897-1946)

Wisconsin Farm Scene (Study), c. 1941

mixed media on paper

86 x 96 inches.

Provenance:

Kathleen Curry Estate

Mongerson Wunderlich Gallery, Chicago

Fine Art LTD Gallery & Sculpture Center, Chesterfield, Missouri

Private Collection, Chicago

Lot note:

The present lot is a to-scale study for a three-part mural for the First National Bank, Madison, Wisconsin, painted in 1941. Curry had previously established his artistic reputation as regionalist, along with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, in Kansas before he was lured to Madison in 1936 for the position of artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin (the first such post in the country). The hire came under the auspices of the College of Agriculture with the goal to use his work to educate rural communities and promote state-of the-art farming practices.

It was during his tenure in Madison (1936-46) that he created the study and the finished mural for the First National Bank. As a regionalist artist, Curry strove to create a universal art with his depictions of local landscapes and events with which the public could identify. The impressive scale of the study allows for an expansive view of a bucolic Wisconsin landscape that features orderly haystacks, prosperous farms, and healthy cows. The complete mural also depicted a panoramic view of Madison with its lakes and capitol, as well as smaller side panels that showed fall birds and crops. The painted mural panel of the same scene is now in the collection of the Chazen Museum, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Wisconsin Farm Scene (Study), c. 1941