John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
American, 1897-1946
Born in Dunavant, Kansas on November 14, 1897, John Steuart Curry became the youngest member of the famed "Benton-Wood-Curry trio" of Regional Painters of the early 20th-century American Scene movement. He gained a national reputation for his rural Kansas scenes. The artist focused on people who were down-to-earth, plain spoken, and self-reliant, and who made a living through hard physical labor.
Curry executed murals dealing with land settlement and racial justice, and his works reflecting these themes are in the Capitol Building in Kansas, the University of Wisconsin, the United States Department of the Interior, and the United States Department of Justice.
The artist quit high school and attended the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. He transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Curry married Clara Derrick in 1923. He studied in Paris in 1927. He was not impressed by the modernist American painters, many of whom were adopting the 'isms' of French contemporary artists. Curry was determined to paint American subjects without European models and to celebrate patriotism, regional pride, and the common man.
He settled in Westport, Connecticut. In 1928, he painted Baptism in Kansas. The painting was heralded nationally as work of a new American genre. It was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art biennial where it met critical acclaim. In 1931, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney bought it for her museum. Tornado over Kansas was unveiled in 1929 before the stock market crash and provided the city with the romance of man versus nature theme. In 1933, it received second prize at the Carnegie International Exhibit. In 1930, he had his first one-man exhibition at the Whitney Studio Club. His work of the 1930s contains themes of work, family, and land-- demonstrating the peace, struggle, and perseverance that Curry believed was the essence of American life.
In 1934 he married Kathleen Shepard. The United States government selected him to paint murals for the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior. He was appointed Artist-in-Residence in the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin in 1936.
He was a member of the Art Students' League and won prizes including: Purchase prize, North West Print Maker, fifth annual Exhibition, 1933; second prize, Thirty-first International Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, 1933; gold medal, PAFA, 1941; prize, Artists for Victory Exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1941. Exhibitions include: “A Celebration of Rural America,” 2007, Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History; “Collective Images: the sketchbooks of John Steuart Curry, 2002, Worcester Art Museum; “Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland,” 2000, Columbus Museum of Art; “The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000,” Whitney Museum of American Art; and “John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West,” 1998, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.
He died in Madison, Wisconsin in 1946.to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
808
408
306
282
1
1
Artist: John Steuart Curry
Untitled (Study for The Aerialists)
By John Steuart Curry
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Study for The Aerialists)
Graphite on paper, 1932
Signed lower right in pencil: "John Steuart Curry"
Dated: 1932 in pencil
Exhibited:
Schroeder Romero & Shredder, NYC (label), Master Drawings, Oct. 13, 2011-Nov. 12, 2011 (see photo of label)
Arkansas Arts Center (label), 44th Collector Show & Sale, Nov. 30-December 30, 2012, Offered at $22,000.
(see photo of label)
This drawing is closely related to a painting by Curry entitled The Aerialists, 1932, once in the Erskine Collection, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is part of a group of preliminary drawings and three finished paintings executed by Curry around 1932 which were based on The Flying Cadonas. The painting The Flying Cadonas is an icon of American art purchased by the Whitney Museum of Art and now on permanent exhibition.
There are other know studies for these works, nos. 199 through 222 and in John Steuart Curry: Rural America, page 32 (Mongerson Wunderlich, Chicago, 1990.
Provenance:
Mrs. Kathleen Curry (artist’s widow), included in the estate schedule of works
Treadway Toomey Auction, Oak Park, Illinois, 2009
Don Joint, New York
An important American Regionalist drawing.
Like Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry was a major American scene painter of the 1930s. His subjects were taken from American history and his most famous mural, The Tragic Prelude...
Category
1930s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
Related Items
Blanche Grambs, (Young Owl)
Located in New York, NY
Blanche Grambs, whose career started with the WPA, was an extremely skilled draftsperson.
Her birds are masterful. Although we use the word 'pencil' fo...
Category
1970s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pencil
1951 Graphite on Paper Figure Study-Standing Male- Torso by Artist Harold Haydon
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1951 black and white figure study of a nude male, by artist Harold Haydon. Artwork size: 19" x 12 1/2". Archivally matted to: 24" x 30". Provenance: Estate of the Artist. Es...
Category
1950s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite, Paper
Blanche Grambs, (Young Bird with Ferns)
Located in New York, NY
Blanche Grambs, whose career started with the WPA, was an extremely skilled draftsperson.
Her birds are masterful. This charming piece places the yooun...
Category
1970s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pencil
Untitled (Reclining Woman)
By Malvin Marr Albright
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1933 watercolor of a reclining woman in a red dress, by Malvin Marr Albright (Zsissily), the identical twin of artist Ivan Albright and son of artist Adam Le Lorraine Albright. Im...
Category
1930s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Graphite, Paper
"Manhattan Bridge" NYC American Scene Modernism Watercolor WPA Urban Realism
By Reginald Marsh
Located in New York, NY
Reginald Marsh "Manhattan Bridge" NYC American Scene Modernism Watercolor WPA Urban Realism, 20 x 14 inches. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 1938. Signed...
Category
1930s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil
[untitled] Street Scene with Fruit Vendor.
By Emilio Sanchez
Located in New York, NY
Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999) created [untitled] “STREET SCENE WITH FRUIT VENDOR” in circa 1950. This unsigned watercolor and came to us directly from the Sanchez estate. It is stamped on the verso "Estate of Emilio Sanchez." This piece is in good to very good condition and painted to the paper's edge. The paper size is 14.88 x 15.25 inches (37.6 x 38.6 cm).
“Best known for his architectural paintings and lithographs, Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999) explored the effects of light and shadow to emphasize the abstract geometry of his subjects. His artwork encompasses his Cuban heritage...
Category
1950s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite, Watercolor
![[untitled] Street Scene with Fruit Vendor.](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/a_3312/1641486106885/sanchez_fruit_vendor_79509_master.jpg?width=240 "emilio sanchez age")
Male Lying Nude
By Jackson Lee Nesbitt
Located in New Orleans, LA
This is a drawing from the artist's sketchbooks. This pencil drawing shows a nude male in repose, The drawing is dated November 30 '36 (1936). Clearly the works are authentic and this sketch is signed "Jackson Lee Nesbitt...
Category
Late 20th Century American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
Original Black and White Graphite Sketch for Mural: Figure on Horseback Drawing
Located in Denver, CO
This untitled graphite drawing on paper by Verona Burkhard (1910-2004) features a dynamic figure on horseback, serving as a preliminary sketch for a larger mural. The work highlights Burkhard’s skillful use of graphite to capture movement and form. Presented in a custom frame with all archival materials, the framed dimensions measure 29 ¾ x 22 ¾ inches, with the image size at 23 ½ x 16 ¼ inches.
In very good vintage condition, this drawing represents Burkhard's early artistic process for her mural work. Expedited and international shipping options are available; please contact us for a personalized quote.
About the Artist: Verona Lorriane Burkhard, born on June 8, 1910, was an accomplished American artist known for her murals, paintings, and contributions to the art community. Raised in New Jersey and New York, Burkhard studied at the Art Students League under Boardman Robinson and at Columbia University with Frank Mechau...
Category
20th Century American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
H 29.75 in W 22.75 in D 1.25 in
1951 Figure Study of a Standing Male- Torso by Artist Harold HAydon
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1951 graphite on paper, black and white figure study of a nude male, from 1951, by artist Harold Haydon. Artwork size: 19" x 12 1/2". Archivally matted to 24" x 20". Provenance...
Category
1950s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite, Paper
Reader, oversize drawing of young woman reading, minimal color
By Audrey Anastasi
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This work was intentionally torn and mended. It predates the artist's full immersion, years later into torn and re-pasted collages, using ripped previous drawings and paper-based materials from media. These recently discovered 1984 oversize drawings on archival papers were created working quickly, from a live model. The series shows the last existing observational drawings prior to the artist's switch to working with her non- dominant left hand.
As a feminist, Anastasi's main focus is presenting other women. Unlike the often objectified male gaze...
Category
2010s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Archival Paper, Watercolor, Graphite
H 25.5 in W 35 in D 0.1 in
1951 Graphite on Paper Figure Study of a Standing Male by Artist Harold Haydon
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1951 black and white figure study of a nude male, by artist Harold Haydon. Artwork size: 19" x 12 1/2".
Archivally matted to 24" x 20". Provenance: Estate of the Artist. Esta...
Category
1950s American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite, Paper
"Loser's Rack" - Original Charcoal and Graphite Drawing on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
"Loser's Rack" - Original Charcoal and Graphite Drawing on Paper
This drawing by California artist, Angela Stone (American, b. 1983), provides brilliant 1-point perspective in a val...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Charcoal, Graphite
H 20 in W 16 in D 0.25 in
John Steuart Curry drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic John Steuart Curry drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by John Steuart Curry in graphite, pencil and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1930s and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large John Steuart Curry drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 17 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Reginald Marsh, Charles Ragland Bunnell, and Abraham Walkowitz. John Steuart Curry drawings and watercolor paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $17,500 and tops out at $17,500, while the average work can sell for $17,500.
Artists Similar to John Steuart Curry
Questions About John Steuart Curry Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022John Steuart Curry is known for his paintings that captured daily life in rural areas of Kansas. Curry was born in Dunavant, Kansas, in 1897. He painted two murals for the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka: Kansas Pastoral and Tragic Prelude. You'll find a variety of John Steuart Curry art on 1stDibs.