Images of the 20th Century

K I E C H E L F I N E A R T

Images of the 20th Century

CovER ImAgE Flood by Thomas Hart Benton

1937, Casein on canvas on panel, 13 x 22 1/2 inches


5733 Sou t H 3 4t H St r eet, Su It e 3 0 0

L I nCoL n, n eBr a Sk a 6 8516

t 4 02 .4 2 0 .9553 / F 4 02 .4 2 0 .955 4

ga L L ery@k I eC H eL a rt.Com

w w w. k I eC H eL a rt.Com

1 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975)

Lumber Mill

1928, oil and tempera on panel

23 x 29 inches, Signed lower left “Benton”

annotated on verso “‘Lumber mill’ tempera glazed with oil, painted 1928 Benton”

Provenance

t. H. Benton and r.P. Benton testamentary trusts

exh ib it ion h istory

october 14 to november 15, 1929, Delphic Studios, new york City, new york

1980, Benton’s Bentons, The Spencer museum of art, The university of kansas, Lawrence

1984, Thomas Hart Benton: Chronicler of America’s Folk Heritage, edith C. Blum art Institute, Bard College, annandale-on-Hudson, new york

1992, Thomas Hart Benton, museo d’arte moderna, Citta di Lugano, electa, milan, Italy

TH Is I s oNE oF A smALL gRoup of remarkable paintings

that Benton executed in 1928 after taking a long sketching trip

of six months or more around the united States with his student,

Bill Hayden. The 1928 trip marked a major turning point in

Benton’s career and essentially marks the divide between his early

achievement as an experimental modernist and his later career as

a major painter of the american scene.

From october 14 to november 15, 1929, Benton held an exhibition

of drawings and paintings based on his 1928 trip at the Delphic

Studios in new york. This painting was included in that

exhibition where it hung alongside works that are now recognized

as classic examples of Benton’s achievement: Boomtown

(memorial art gallery of rochester), Cattle Loading West Texas

(addison gallery of american art), Louisiana Rice Threshing

(Brooklyn museum), Cotton Loading, Red River Landing (private

collection), and Steel Mill. The widely praised exhibition included

a glowing review by noted scholar Lloyd goodrich who compared

what Benton had achieved to the writings of mark twain.

The Delphic Studios exhibition was divided into four groups: King

Cotton (scenes from georgia, mississippi, alabama and Louisiana),

Holy Roller Camp Meetings (representing the Cumberland

mountains), Coal Mines (scenes in west Virginia), and The

Lumber Camp (scenes of west Virginia, tennessee, and kentucky).

each group consisted of a key painting or paintings and a dozen or

more pen-and-ink sketches.

Quite a number of the lumber camp drawings have been

published although there must be others that are still scattered

in private collections. They often feature trains as does the one

reproduced in mathew Baigell’s monograph of Benton from 1974

(plate 58, Loggin’ Train), or the one reproduced in emily Braun’s

book on the America Today murals (page 41, figure 6).

This is the key painting of the lumber camp series, and in the

Delphic exhibition it served as an sort of anchor for a cluster of

related drawings. what’s fascinating is how it combines a sense of

on-the-spot observation with an ability to organize the forms in a

rhythmic way.

not long after the Delphic Studios show, Benton created his

mural America Today. In it he devoted about half of the panel,

Midwest, to lumber camp scenes. Interestingly, in the America

Today mural the figures take up much of the foreground, whereas

here the single solitary worker is dwarfed by the logs, locomotive,

buildings and machinery that surround him.

In addition to the Delphic Studios show, which is surely one of

the most important events of Benton’s professional career, this

painting has been included in several other major exhibitions and

catalogues including Linda weintraub’s (editor and co-author

with matthew Baigell), Thomas Hart Benton: Chronicler of

America’s Folk Heritage, edith C. Blum art Institute, 1984, Bard

College; and rudy Chiappini (with Henry adams), Thomas Hart

Benton, museo d’arte moderna, Citta di Lugano, catalogue, electa,

milan, 1992, p 164. The latter was the first exhibition of Benton’s

work in europe.

It should be clear that this is an important work with a wonderful

history and provenance, and it has the qualities one looks for in

his best work—a wonderfully expressive, somewhat impulsive

manner of painting combined with an impressive mastery of

formal organization. In some fascinating way, there’s a perfect

affinity between the rough execution and the rugged industrial

subject. as I’ve mentioned, it closely relates to some of Benton’s

most famous works, and it represents the moment when Benton

joined his modernist mastery of form with american subject

matter and became the leading painter of the american scene.

EssAY wRITTE N BY DR. HE NRY ADAms

Author of “Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original”

DR. HE N RY ADAms

A graduate of Harvard, Henry Adams received his

Ph.d from Yale. A well-known authority on the work

of Thomas Hart Benton, he is currently working on

a biography of Grant Wood. His most recent book is

“Tom and Jack: The Intertwined Lives of Thomas Hart

Benton and Jackson Pollock.”


Flood

1937, Casein on canvas on panel

13 x 22 1/2 inches

annotated by Benton’s wife (rita) on verso “Property of rita Benton”

Provenance

t. H. Benton and r. P. Benton testamentary trusts


February 12 to may 10, 1988, On the Road with Thomas Hart Benton: Images of Changing America,

morris museum of art, augusta, georgia

i l lustrated

Cover illustration, From Missouri: An American Farmer Looks Back

by Thad Snow, 1954, Boston: Houghton mifflin

I T wAs A pLEAsuRE to closely examine the wonderful

thomas Hart Benton painting, The Flood, 1937. major Benton

paintings from the 1930s are rare because he spent most of the

decade painting large-scale mural projects. only in the brief

periods between these projects did he produce easel paintings.

there’s no question about the authenticity since it comes from the

Benton trust. the painting was also included by J. richard gruber,

curator, in the exhibition Thomas Hart Benton and the American

South, augusta, georgia, morris museum of art, 1998. the sheer

quality leaves no doubt of Benton’s authorship.

The Flood painting dates from the most notable single year, in

some ways the “miraculous year” (or years) of Benton’s career.

From 1936 through 1937 he executed the mural for the State

Capitol of missouri in Jefferson City; published his autobiography

and best-seller, An Artist in America; made drawings of flood-

devastated regions in southeast missouri for The Kansas City

Star; drew illustrations of labor unrest in michigan for the July 26,

1937 edition of Life; and went to Hollywood, producing another

important group of unpublished drawings for Life. In addition,

Benton maintained an energetic schedule of exhibitions and

lectures.

made in 1937, this painting is clearly related to the flood drawings

he executed in February 1937 for the The Kansas City Star. Six

of these were published in the February 14, 1937 edition. a

number of these drawing are reproduced in my biography of

Benton, published by knopf in 1989; my book on Benton drawings

published by abbeville in 1990; karal ann marling’s book, Tom

Benton and His Drawings, university of missouri Press, Columbia,

missouri, 1985; and (no author listed) Benton Drawings, A

Collection of Drawings by Thomas Hart Benton, university of

missouri Press, Columbia, missouri, 1968. the ladies (including

one with an umbrella) looking out towards the floating houses are

based directly on a drawing reproduced in Benton Drawings, 1968,

page 28.

the painting is intriguing because it is so finely executed but

small in scale. generally speaking, Benton’s small-scale oil

paintings were studies for larger works. they were made from a

color clay model in which he worked out the general composition.

Invariably, these small works were rather broad in execution and

lacking in detail. this painting, on the other hand, is executed

with care, finesse, and finely observed detail throughout. It’s

clearly not a study for a larger work of art, but a finished work in

its own right.

.

Based on the level of detail, I believe that The Flood was

conceived as an illustration or a book cover. Benton likely hoped

his drawings of the missouri flood would be picked up by Life

magazine where he had a close friend, Dan Longwell, from his

early days working on a newspaper in Joplin. Life devoted most

of an issue to the missouri flood on February 8, 1937. However,

they never reproduced any of Benton’s flood drawings. of course,

Benton may have had a nationally significant magazine other than

Life in mind or possibly hoped to create a book that reproduced

his flood drawings. For some unknown reason, the project never

made it into print.

The Flood was used seventeen years later for the cover of

thad Snow’s From Missouri, An American Farmer Looks Back,

published in 1954 by Houghton mifflin Company, Boston. thad

Snow, a farmer from Van Buren, missouri, managed a highly

productive farm that produced cotton, corn and alfalfa. the book

contains several chapters that describe notable missouri floods,

including the one of 1937.

The Flood certainly ranks with the best of Benton’s paintings of

the 1930s and is in many ways unique. Despite its small scale, this

is a fully resolved and completely finished work whose design

and composition are as impressive as any of Benton’s large-scale

paintings of the 1930s. It is the most finished Benton painting I’ve

ever seen of its size. there’s a wonderful mood to the painting—at

once forlorn and heroic.

EssAY wRITTE N BY DR. HE NRY ADAms

Author of “Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original”

cover iM aGe

From Missouri: An American Farmer Looks Back

by Thad Snow, 1954, Boston: Houghton mifflin


Strike

1933, Double-sided oil on tin

13 1/4 x 15 3/8 inches, Signed lower left “Benton”

Waiting (on verso), oil on canvas on tin, 8 x 7 1/2 inches

annotated on verso, “Pittsburgh Strike by Thom Benton”

Provenance

Private collection

t. H. Benton and r. P. Benton testamentary trusts


Benton’s Bentons — touring February 15, 1981 to September 26, 1982

• mid-america arts alliance, kansas City, missouri

• Helen Foresma Spencer museum of art, university of kansas, Lawrence

• Smart gallery, university of Chicago, Illinois

includes essay by dr . henry ada Ms

available upon request.

4 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975) Woods Scene, mixed media, 15 1/2 x 11 inches, Signed lower right “Benton”

5 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975) Devil’s Camp in CA, Ink wash and graphite, 17 x 14 inches,

Signed and titled lower right “Devil’s Camp in Ca Benton”

6 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975) The Singer, 1926, Ink, sepia wash and graphite, 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches,

Signed and dated lower right “Benton 1926”; annotated below “She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes”

7 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975) Country Schoolroom with Stove, c. 1935-40, Ink wash and graphite, 11 1/4 x 8 5/8 inches,

Signed lower right “Benton,” Frontispiece for “Schoolhouse in the Foothills” by ella enslow

THomAs HART BE NToN

l ithoGraPhs

8 A Drink of Water 1937, Lithograph, ed. of 250 14 1/2 x 10 inchesSigned [Fath 15]

11 Frankie and Johnnie1936, Lithograph, ed. of 100 16 3/8 x 22 1/8 inches Signed [Fath 11]

9 Edge of Town1938, Lithograph, ed. of 250 9 x 10 3/4 inchesSigned [Fath 22]

10 Fire in the Barnyard1944, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 3/4 x 13 3/8 inchesSigned [Fath 64]

13 Gateside Conversation1946, Lithograph, ed. of 250 9 7/8 x 14 inches Signed [Fath 69]

12 Frisky Day1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 7 13/16 x 12 1/16 inches Signed [Fath 30]

14 Goin’ Home1937, Lithograph, ed. of 250 9 3/8 x 12 inches Signed [Fath 14]

16 Hymn Singer (The Minstrel)1950, Lithograph, 275/500 16 x 12 3/8 inches Signed [Fath 74]

15 Haystack1938, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 3/8 x 12 7/8 inches Signed [Fath 21]

17 In the Ozarks (Homestead)1938, Lithograph, ed. of 250 9 x 13 1/8 inches Signed [Fath 20]

19 Island Hay1945, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 x 12 5/8 inches Signed [Fath 68]

18 Investigation1937, Lithograph, ed. of 1939 3/8 x 12 5/8 inches Signed [Fath 17]

20 Letter from Overseas1943, Lithograph, ed. of 250 9 5/8 x 13 1/8 inches Signed [Fath 59]

22 Lonesome Road1938, Lithograph, ed. of 2509 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches Signed [Fath 18]

21 Loading Corn (Shucking Corn)1945, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches Signed [Fath 65]

23 Mr. President1971, Lithograph, ed. of 150 8 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches Signed [Fath 83]

25 Night Firing1943, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 3/4 x 13 1/8 inches Signed [Fath 57]

24 Nebraska Evening (Arkansas Evening)1941, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 x 13 inches Signed [Fath 45]

26 Photographing the Bull1950, Lithograph, ed. of 500 11 15/16 x 16 inches Signed [Fath 75]

28 Prodigal Son1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 x 13 1/4 inches Signed [Fath 29]

27 Plowing it Under1934, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 x 13 3/8 inches Signed [Fath 8]

29 Rainy Day1938, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 3/4 x 13 3/8 inches Signed [Fath 23]

31 Self-Portrait (Head)1973, Lithograph, ed. of 150 11 5/8 x 9 1/2 inches Signed [Fath 90]

30 Running Horses1955, Lithograph, ed. of 10012 1/2 x 16 9/16 inches Signed [Fath 78]

32 Shallow Creek1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 14 1/4 x 9 3/8 inches Signed [Fath 32]

34 Strike (Mine Strike)1933, Lithograph, ed. of 3009 1/4 x 10 13/16 inches Signed [Fath 5]

33 Slow Train through Arkansas1941, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 x 12 3/4 inches Signed [Fath 46]

35 Sunday Morning1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 9 5/8 x 12 3/8 inches Signed [Fath 26]

36 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975) The Race (Homeward Bound), 1942, Lithograph, edition of 250, 9 15/16 x 13 3/16 inches, Signed [Fath 56]

39 The Woodpile1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 3/4 x 10 7/8 inches Signed [Fath 31]

37 Ten Pound Hammer1967, Lithograph, ed. of 30013 13/16 x 9 13/16 inches Signed [Fath 79]

40 White Calf1945, Lithograph, ed. of 250 10 3/4 x 13 1/4 inches Signed [Fath 67]

38 The Meeting1941, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 7/8 x 11 1/2 inches Signed [Fath 47]

41 THomAs HART BE NToN (1889-1975) Wreck of the Ol’ 97, 1944, Lithograph, edition of 250, 10 1/4 x 15 inches, Signed [Fath 63]

42 gRANT wooD (1891-1942)

Untitled (Landscape with River and Hills)

c. 1930-31, oil on panel

17 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches

Provenance

Private collection

Dr. titus evans (grant wood’s radiologist)

Collection of the artist

LANDsCApE wITH A RIvER AND H I LLs originally hung

in grant wood’s studio. In December of 1941, shortly after a

cancer operation, wood gifted the painting to Dr. titus evans, his

physician. wood passed away on February 12, 1942. For years the

painting hung in the home of Dr. and mrs. evans; and from them

it passed to its present owner.

Landscape with a River and Hills portrays a gently rolling

landscape typical of eastern Iowa. we look across a slow moving

river to rolling hills in the background. on the right side there’s

an unpaved road that crosses the bridge. In the left foreground

is a “dancing tree.” Sprinkled over the landscape are corn fields,

corn shocks, trees and a red silo. The oddest feature of the

painting is the shape of the hill just across the river on the left,

which has a shape that resembles a human foot, with eight green

shrubs that seem to form “toes.”

Interestingly, the composition of the painting seems to follow

a design method that wood employed on other occasions. It is

roughly divided into three equal horizontal bands and is criss-

crossed by diagonals that point to the corners or to other key

points on this geometric grid. wood taught this method of design

to his students at the university of Iowa. It can be found in many

of his landscapes, notably in his lithograph March of 1941, where

this method is particularly clearly worked out.

The most remarkable element in the painting is the hill that

resembles a human foot, with shrubs for toes. In some fashion

I believe that this is a reference to a silly hoax which wood once

carried out, which in some way was significant to him and formed

part of his personal mythology.

In 1916, with his friend Paul Hanson, wood constructed two

small homes in kenwood Park, Cedar rapids, one for the Hanson,

and one for himself, his mother and his sister. around this time,

after reading about the alleged discovery of human bones and a

kitchen in Horsethief ’s Cave, northeast of kenwood, a hoax which

brought crowds of spectators to view the cave, wood decided to

create a “Superhoax” of his own. as his first biographer Darrell

garwood reported:

He carved a foot eighteen inches long out of wood and made

footprints in the ravine leading from Cook’s Pond. with

his monster picture and the footprints as proof, he tried to

convince the newspapers that a giant had risen up from the

pond and then clumped off down the ravine. as it turned

out, he didn’t succeed in interesting the papers in his story.

But he did use the footprints: he cast them in concrete and

laid them as a sidewalk from front to back of the house he

was to occupy; the concrete footprints were spaced so that

it looks as though a giant had just knocked at the front door

and then hurried around the corner of the house.” (Darrell

garwood, Artist in Iowa, A Life of Grant Wood, w. w. norton

& Company, Inc., new york, 1944, page 53.)

The same story is told with slight variations by wood’s sister nan:

about two miles away was Cook’s pond, which grant called

“Corot’s pond.” on hot summer evenings, he and Paul

Hanson would swim there. as a hoax, grant made molds

and cast some giant footprints, pressing them into the sand

to make tracks leading to the pond. Then he dove in and

came up with his head covered with decaying leaves and

dripping mud. Paul took a picture of this horrible creature.

grant made more of the giant footprints in concrete and

used them a stepping stones from our house to a rustic

bridge he built over a tiny stream in our back yard. years

later, a new owner raised the level of the back yard with fill

dirt. after grant’s death, David turner had the fill dirt dug

up in an effort to find the footprint stepping stones. none

were found, but news of the “dig” got into the papers, and

a Los angeles concrete company began to make and sell

grant wood stepping stones. a newspaper ran an article

with instructions for making the stones and old patterns. For

a long time, it was not uncommon to find giant-footprint

stepping stones for sale in lumber yards. (nan wood graham

with John Zug and Julie Jensen mcDonald, My Brother Grant

Wood, State Historical Society of Iowa, 1993, pages 25-26.)

my belief is that the hillside shaped like a foot in this painting is

an allusion to this hoax—or if you wish an extension of it into a

new and somewhat different artistic statement. In other words,

wood was creating a sort of “Bigfoot Landscape,” in which a huge

foot becomes visible in the hillside, and conjures up the fantasy

that “Bigfoot” is at loose. He was sufficiently taken with this

idea to execute the under-painting of a canvas on this theme; but

then ran out of energy or enthusiasm when faced with the task of

perfecting the finish of his creation—no doubt because he became

conscious that the conceit was too slight and too whimsical to

justify a fully polished painting. Instead, he hung the incomplete

painting in his studio, waiting for some further bit of inspiration

which would enable him to complete the painting—a moment

which never came.

In short, based on the information now available to me and

on actual examination of the painting, I believe that this is an

authentic painting by grant wood—although certainly one

that is a bit unusual in many ways, and most likely unfinished.

while much of the evidence is circumstantial, if you put all the

pieces together they make a compelling case. The provenance

is convincing. The physical materials of the painting and the

way they are employed look right. The composition and subject

matter seem to connect convincingly with well-known paintings

by grant wood, particularly to The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover

of 1931. Finally—to my mind most compelling—the strange,

somewhat childish sense of humor reflected in the work seems

to fit with what we know of grant wood’s personality—and not

with the work of any other artist. given the quite extraordinary

rarity of grant wood’s work, this is an important discovery and

an important addition to our knowledge of the artist.

ExCERpT BY DR. HE NRY ADAms

{Full letter available upon request}

43 gRANT wooD’s “ wIg” TRuNK 15 (h) x 22 (w) x 14 (d) inches

This family heirloom traveled with the wood family from Virginia to Iowa. grant wood inherited the chest from

his aunt. originally designed for ladies’ hair pieces, this trunk was used by the artist for his receipts and important

papers. It was also confiscated by the IrS during an investigation of back taxes from 1935-38.

44 gRANT wooD (1891-1942)

Three Metal Objects

metalwork was a hobby for grant wood. These pieces, from the collection of his sister nan wood, were created during

his time at turner alley. an avid lover of hazelnuts, wood fashioned the rectangular tray to fit on the artist’s easel for

easy access. The round metal object was created for his mother, Hattie, to use as a flowerpot holder. The heavy design,

crafted from the iron gear of a seed planter, was intended to counteract her pots blowing off the window sill.

The tapered object appears primarily decorative; it hung on the porch post of grant wood’s Iowa City home.

45 gRANT wooD (1891-1942) Tame Flowers, 1939, Hand-colored lithograph, 7 x 10 inches, Signed lower right

used as a color study for the remaining “tame Flowers” lithographs which were hand-colored by nan.

46 pHoTogRApH oF gRANT wooD Color photograph, 7 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches

47 gRANT wooD (1891-1942)

The Pulse

1908, Ink, 18 x 11 3/4 inches

Signed “gDw ‘10”

early illustration by grant wood

as a high school sophomore

(Class of 1910) for his yearbook.

gRANT wooD

l ithoGraPhs

48 Approaching Storm

1940, Lithograph, edition of 250

11 3/4 x 8 7/8 inches, Signed

[Cole 19]

49 December Afternoon1940, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 7/8 x 11 3/4 inches Signed [Cole 16]

50 Family Doctor1940, Lithograph, ed. of 300 10 x 11 7/8 inches Signed [Cole 18]

51 Fertility1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 7/8 x 11 7/8 inches Signed [Cole 15]

52 Honorary Degree1938, Lithograph, ed. of 250 11 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches Signed [Cole 4]

53 Seed Time and Harvest1937, Lithograph, ed. of 250 7 1/2 x 12 1/8 inches Signed [Cole 2]

54 Shrine Quartet1939, Lithograph, ed. of 250 8 x 11 7/8 inches Signed [Cole 11]

55 gRANT wooD (1891-1942) February, 1940, Lithograph, edition of 250, 8 7/8 x 11 3/4 inches, Signed [Cole 17]

56 gRANT wooD (1891-1942) March, 1939, Lithograph, edition of 250, 8 7/8 x 11 3/4 inches, Signed [Cole 14]

57 gRANT wooD (1891-1942) Vegetables, 1939, Hand-colored lithograph, edition of 250, 7 x 10 inches, Signed [Cole 8]

58 gRANT wooD (1891-1942) Wild Flowers, 1939, Hand-colored lithograph, edition of 250, 7 x 10 inches, Signed [Cole 10]

59 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946)

The Corn

1933, oil on canvas, 26 x 20 inches

Signed and dated lower right “John Steuart Curry 1933”

Provenance

Private collection by descent

engagement gift from John Steuart Curry to his wife, kathleen

TH Is I s THE F IRsT oF T wo vERs IoNs of John Steuart

Curry’s painting Corn, one of his acknowledged masterpieces.

It was given by him in lieu of a wedding ring to his second wife,

kathleen gould Curry. a larger version of the same composition

hangs in the wichita art museum, wichita, kansas in the roland

P. murdoch Collection. Curry also executed a lithograph of the

subject in 1935.

For Curry to make a stalk of corn the sole subject of a painting

was an unusual decision—indeed, one without clear precedents.

the painting carries meaning at two levels: it’s an assertion

of Curry’s identity as a midwestern regionalist artist and it’s a

statement about spiritual and emotional rebirth.

of the three major regionalists, Curry, wood, and Benton, Curry

was the first to achieve significant critical attention. In January

of 1930, when he exhibited Baptism in Kansas at the whitney

Studio gallery, margaret Breuning in the New York Evening Post

compared him to a “young Lochinvar” from out of the west. She

noted that his “prairie expanses” struck a new note in american

art. Shortly afterwards, grant wood and thomas Hart Benton

achieved similar recognition for their paintings of midwestern

scenes, grant wood for his hugely popular American Gothic,

1930, and Benton for his landmark mural, America Today, 1930.

was particularly associated with kansas, where fields of corn

often stretched to the horizon, creating an agricultural vista

unlike any other on earth.

Curry himself recalled that as a child the cornfields of his father’s

farm “held the same fascination for me as do the forest for those

who live within them. I remember wandering through them and

being overpowered by the fear of being lost in their great confines.”

In focusing on an ear of corn, Curry clearly intended to symbolize

the bounty of america, and celebrate the heartland of america.

Curry made this painting at the moment when he was finally

ready to place the tragedy of his first marriage behind him and

move on. the intensely personal associations of this painting

have been described in a letter of July 15th, 2011, by Curry’s

granddaughter, S. g. Schuster:

you asked me to tell you the story of the Corn painting by JS

Curry. when I was a child I was told that when John Curry

met my grandmother kathleen gould Shepard they fell in

love very quickly and he wanted to marry her.

He was then quite poor and so he went to her and proposed

It took several years before the work of the three artists was

linked together into an “artistic movement.” while the art critic

thomas Craven and the art dealer maynard walker took steps in

this direction, midwestern regionalism was not clearly defined

until December 24, 1934. Time magazine published an article

titled “american Scene,” which brought together the work of the

Curry, wood and Benton and presented them as native american

realists who were standing up against the inroads of european

modernism. For the remainder of the 1930s, they were described

as “the Big three” and were regarded as pillars of the movement

to create a distinctively american form of art.

notably, Corn was created just before the article in Time appeared.

He was still working into his new role as a painter of midwestern

subjects. In other words, Curry was still struggling to devise

a distinctly midwestern sort of subject matter and symbolism.

Corn was a bold step in this direction. no one before had focused

attention on a stalk of corn in such a fashion, endowing it with a

monumental presence.

Curry clearly chose to represent corn because of its rich symbolic

overtones and its associations with kansas and the midwest.

Corn is an american vegetable, originally cultivated by the

Indians and unknown in europe before Columbus’s voyages. It

but instead of a ring he presented her with this painting, the

painting titled the Corn…I have always thought that the

reason the corn in the paintings seems so alive is partly the

skill of the artist but also the love that they shared. [1]

In short this is a painting about hope. the fecundity of the

cornstalk was clearly intended to express Curry’s hope for his

new marriage. Because it was in the family rather than in a

museum, this smaller version of Corn is little known. the larger

version of this composition in wichita has been widely published

and is reproduced in all the major publications on Curry. In

his monograph on Curry of 1943, Laurence e. Schmeckebeir

reproduced two studies for the wichita painting (or perhaps for

this one), a very careful and accurate drawing and a somewhat

looser watercolor.[2]

as noted, Curry made two versions of Corn. In many way this

painting, though the smaller of the two works, is not only richer

in its personal associations, but artistically the superior of the two,

since it was clearly the first to be executed, and thus is fresher in

feeling.

[1] Letter from S. g. Schuster to Vivian kiechel, July 15th, 2011.

[2] Laurence e. Schmeckebier, John Steuart Curry’s Pageant of

america, american artists group, new york, 1943, figures 108

and 109, p. 158.

ExCERpT BY DR. HE NRY ADAms

{Full letter available upon request}


Rainbow and View of Madison, Wisconsin

1937, oil on panel, 36 1/2 x 48 inches

Signed and dated lower right “John Steuart Curry 1937”

Provenance

Private collection

estate of the artist


associated american artists, 711 Fifth ave., new york City, new york

aCa galleries, 41 e. 57th St., new york City, new york

ministério Da educacão e Saúde, museu nacional De Belas artes, rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Exposicion De Pintura Bellas Artes, July 1941, museo nacional De Bellas artes, Buenes aires, rep. argentina

Inventing the Middle West, Patricia Junker and elvehjem museum of art, madison, wisconsin

i l lustrated

Cover illustration, Wisconsin Magazine of History, august 2000, madison: State Historical Society of wisconsin

Cover illustration, Long for This World, by ronald wallace, 2003, Pittsburgh: university of Pittsburgh Press

Painted at the pinnacle of John Steuart Curry’s career, Rainbow and View of Madison, Wisconsin, is a magnificent allegory of

regionalist and american ideals. although the rainstorms showering the city and state capitol foreshadow potential problems,

the rainbow, rich fields and healthy livestock signify Curry’s hopes for the nation’s future. The painting became the visual

summation of Curry’s life’s work. The rainbow spans the city, the state capitol, and the country. This image crystallizes Curry’s

hope that urban and rural societies would coexist in harmony with responsible, honest government after the Depression.

61 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Melora in the Cart, c. 1944, tempera with oil on paper, 21 1/8 x 37 inches, Signed lower right

Illustrated in the Pulitzer Prize winning novel John Brown’s Body by Stephen Vincent Benet

62 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Study for Westward Movement: Justice of the Plains, c. 1936, oil on paper, 14 x 32 inches

Signed lower left “John Steuart Curry”; Study for the 1937 “westward movement: Justice of the Plains”

mural in the u.S. Department of Justice Building in washington D.C.

63 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY

Maquette for ‘Tragic Prelude,

Coronado and Padre Padilla’

kansas Statehouse murals

c. 1937, graphite, 23 x 48 inches


Maquette for ‘Kansas Pastoral-

The Unmortgaged Farm’


c. 1936, graphite, 23 x 58 inches


Study for ‘Tragic Prelude: Coronado’


c. 1938, oil on canvas, 20 x 26 1/4 inches

66 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Morning (Brown Thrush on Osage Branch Overlooking Kansas Landscape),

1936, oil and tempera on panel, 27 x 43 inches, Signed, titled and dated lower right

67 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Study for Oklahoma Land Rush, 1938, oil on board, 11 3/4 x 24 1/2 inches,

annotated below image “‘rush for the Land’ the opening of oklahoma april 29th 1889 / It is an historical fact, a beautiful lady was

allowed to ride the cow catcher of a Sante Fe engine. at a signal the train was slowed and she jumped off to make a claim;”

Study for the mural in the u.S. Department of Interior in washington D.C.

68 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY’s wEDDINg C HEsT 12 3/4 (h) x 40 (w) x 18 1/2 (d) inches

Created by the artist for his wife, kathleen Curry, this trunk was used by kathleen until her death in 2001.

69 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Untitled (House with Tree), oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches

70 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Book Illustrations (Westport Connecticut), oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 36 inches


Portrait of a Clara “Derrick” Curry

1926, oil on burlap, 36 x 25 inches

Signed and dated lower left “John S. Curry 1926”

This early painting falls during Curry’s year-long study in Paris in the studio of russian academic, Basil Schoukhaieff. Curry

spent this crucial period improving his skill and studying works by old masters such as rembrandt and rubens.

This is the only known painting of Curry’s first wife, Clara Derrick. Curry traveled to Paris with Clara, where she took a job

working in a bank to aid in covering expenses. wed in 1923, Curry was introduced to his wife by his brother, eugene, who

worked for her father, the head of the new Jersey State Home for Boys. Clara supported Curry during his early transition

from illustrator to successful artist. over time their marriage suffered, and in the spring of 1932, Curry left to travel with the

ringling Brothers Circus. Clara passed away in July 1932 from a heart complication and rumored nervous breakdown.

JoHN sTEuART CuRRY

l ithoGraPhs

72 John Brown

1939, Lithograph, edition of 250

14 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches, Signed

[Cole 34]

74 Coyotes Stealing a Pig1927, Lithograph, ed. of 50 10 x 15 inches Signed [Cole 3]

73 Coyotes Stealing a Pig (1st Stone)1927, Lithograph, ed. of 16 10 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches Signed [Cole 2]

75 Hounds and Coyote1931, Lithograph, ed. of 25 10 x 14 inches Signed [Cole 12]

77 Sanctuary1944, Lithograph, ed. of 250 11 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches estate signed [Cole 38]

76 Manhunt1934, Lithograph, ed. of c. 3009 3/4 x 12 7/8 inches Signed [Cole 22]

78 Prize Stallions1938, Lithograph, ed. of 250 13 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches Signed [Cole 31]

80 Summer Afternoon1940, Lithograph, ed. of 50 10 x 14 inches Signed [Cole 35]

79 Stallion and Jack Fighting1943, Lithograph, ed. of 25011 3/4 x 15 3/8 inches Signed [Cole 37]

81 The Missed Leap1934, Lithograph, ed. of c. 250 16 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches Signed [Cole 23]

83 Valley of the Wisconsin1945, Lithograph, ed. of 250 11 3/4 x 15 3/8 inches Signed [Cole 41]

82 The Plainsman1945, Lithograph, ed. of 25015 3/4 x 9 5/8 inches Signed [Cole 40]

84 The Three Wise Men1927, LithographProof for the numbered ed. of 42 8 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches unsigned [Cole 1]

85 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Study for ‘Prize Stallions’, 1937, Conte crayon, 12 x 17 inches

Signed and annotated lower right “John Steuart Curry 1937 / to Chris and Cara Christensen 1937 / John & kathleen”

86 EDwIN BRuNs (1898-1970) Circus Painting, 1938, oil on canvas, 28 x 36 inches, Signed and dated lower right

87 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Clowns in Dressing Tent, 1932, oil on panel, 12 x 16 inches, Signed upper right

88 JoHN sTEuART CuRRY (1897-1946) Strongman, Circus, c. 1932, graphite, 12 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches

89 RogER mEDEARIs (1920 -2001)

Sweet Betsy from Pike

1948, tempera on panel, 17 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches

Signed and dated lower right “medearis 1948”

titled on verso

Did you ever hear tell of Sweet Betsy from Pike,

Who crossed the wide mountains with her lover Ike,

Two yoke of cattle, a large yeller dog,

A tall Shanghai rooster, and a one-spotted hog.

Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay.

Provenance

artist family by descent

Produced in the period following world war II, Sweet Betsy from Pike depicts a scene from a popular folk song by the same title. It

captures the spirit and style of medearis’ roots in regionalism. Born in missouri in 1920, roger medearis studied at the kansas

art Institute under celebrated artist Thomas Hart Benton. Benton’s concept of regionalism was influential in shaping medearis as

an artist. much like Benton, medearis’ work reflected personal experiences and showed people and places he knew intimately.

medearis served in both the army and the navy during world war II. In the years following his military service, he

became discouraged with the prevalence of abstract expressionism. artistic disappointment combined with

personal issues led to a hiatus from the art world. It was not until the mid-1960s that medearis redeveloped his love

for painting. His first paintings reflected his earlier regionalist work. as time passed, his subjects changed from

the figures of the midwest to the landscapes of the far west. He continued painting until his death in 2001.

90 RogER mEDEARIs (1920 -2001) The Sycamore I, 1993, Lithograph, 16/100, 15 x 17 3/4 inches, Signed lower right

91 RogER mEDEARIs (1920 -2001) Country Singer, 1995, Lithograph, 26/100, 14 x 19 7/8 inches, Signed lower right

92 RogER mEDEARIs (1920 -2001) Spring-fed Pond, 1994, Lithograph, 52/150, 12 x 18 inches, Signed lower right

93 RogER mEDEARIs (1920 -2001) The Butterfly, 1987, Lithograph, 60/100, 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches, Signed lower right

94 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995)

End of the Hunt (Second Version)

1969, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 1/2 inches

Signed and dated lower left “Dale nichols 1969”

annotated on verso

Provenance

Private collection

amicos most

Collection of the artist


Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism — touring from may 20, 2011 to June 17, 2012

• Bone Creek museum of agrarian art, David City, nebraska

• georgia art museum, athens, georgia

• montgomery museum of Fine arts, montgomery, alabama

essay by a M anda Mobley, author of “dale n ichols : transcend inG reGional isM”

End of the Hunt (1934) is the most famous nichols painting. It was awarded the william randolph Hearst award in an exhibition at

the art Institute of Chicago and purchased by the metropolitan museum of art in 1939. Due to its popularity nichols repeated the

techniques, colors, and forms in other paintings to bring him continued success. and in a few cases he actually made another “end of

the Hunt” such as this piece which is labeled “version II”. nichols was careful to keep the composition and subject broadly similar but

make the details distinctly different. nichols justified his untraditional opinion in this way, “what affected my mind more deeply was

the realization that george gershwin would repeat this presentation of his masterpiece [rhapsody in Blue] wherever his large, great

orchestra, on its tour of america and europe, would pause to play. I wondered why an artist couldn’t periodically repeat one of his finest

paintings, especially if it was in a great museum collection, and call it an encore.” [quote taken from encores masterful Copies, Dale nichols]

95 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995)

Country Charm

1943, oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches


Illustration for 1944 Dean’s milk advertisement (below).

96 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Yesterday, 1972, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches, Signed lower right “Dale nichols”

97 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Plowing the Fields, 1965, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches, Signed and dated lower left “Dale nichols 1965”

98 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Stormy Sea Alaska, 1972, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches, Signed and dated lower right “Dale nichols 1972”

99 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Wilderness–Alaska, 1985, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches, Signed and dated lower left “Dale nichols 1985”

100 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) The Evening Star and the White Seabird, Alaska, 1988, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches,


101 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Untitled (Car and Horse in Street), 1931, watercolor and ink, 7 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches,

Signed and dated lower right “Dale nichols–1931”

102 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Gulf Coast Shrouded (Fog), 1972, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches, Signed and dated lower left “Dale nichols 1972”

103 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) An Ancient Maya Doing Homage to the Corn God,

1989, mixed media on fabric. 32 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches, Signed and dated lower left

104 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) The Maya Wind God, 1972, mixed media on fabric, 23 1/4 x 17 1/4 inches, Signed and dated lower right

105 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) The Monkey in God’s Place is Evil, 1965, mixed media on fabric. 19 1/8 x 29 3/8 inches, Signed and dated lower middle

106 DALE N IC HoLs (1904-1995) Untitled (Guatemalan Landscape), watercolor. 12 x 15 1/2 inches, Signed lower left and right

107 RoCKwELL KE NT (1882-1971) Greenland (Spring), c. 1934-35, oil on canvas laid down on board. 28 x 34 inches, Signed lower left and right

108 HE NRY HowARD BAgg (1853-1928) Untitled (Mountain Lake), oil on canvas, 14 x 20 inches, Signed lower right

109 B IRgER sANDZE N (1871-1954) River Sunset, 1936, Linocut, edition of 2, 9 x 12 inches, Signed, titled and annotated [greenough 79]

110 B IRgER sANDZE N (1871-1954) Trees and Wheatfield, 1938, Lithograph, edition of 100, 11 x 14 inches, Signed and titled [greenough 161]

111 JoHN pH IL Ip FALTER (1910 -1982)

Shirt Sleeve Court

oil on canvas, 39 1/2 x 55 inches

Signed lower left “John Falter”

Provenance

Private collection

i l lustrated

Reader’s Digest Great Biographies, A Conversation of Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg

Lincoln remarked “It was a kind of shirt sleeve court they were holding there in the cornfield” –Carl Sandburg

Born in Plattsmouth and raised in Falls City, nebraska, John Falter was a nationally recognized painter and illustrator. Best

known for his work with the Saturday Evening Post, Falter illustrated over 120 covers throughout the life of the magazine.

During his career, he drew from his midwestern background. Falter commented, “my main concern doing Post covers

was trying to do something based on my own experiences. I found my niche as a painter of americana with an accent of

the middle west. I brought out some of the homeliness and humor of middle western town life and home life.”

Besides the Saturday Evening Post, Falter also completed over 300 recruiting posters while serving in the navy, produced

illustrations for publications such as Good Housekeeping, The Home Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan,

McCalls, Life, and Look and illustrated over 40 books. This particular painting was created for the Reader’s Digest special

edition of Carl Sandburg’s A Conversation of Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years. In 1976, Falter was honored by his

peers with election to the Illustrators Hall of Fame. a prolific and well-respected artist, he passed away in 1982.

112 TERE NCE DuRE N (1906 -1968) The Tryst, c. 1960, oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 36 inches, Signed lower left

113 TERE NCE DuRE N (1906 -1968) Wild Grape Pickers, c. 1960, oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches, Signed lower left

114 TERE NCE DuRE N (1906 -1968) Untitled (Cattle Drive), oil on canvas, 18 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches, Signed lower left

115 w I LL IAm wIND mCKIm (1916 -1995) Javelinas, tempera on panel, 16 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches, Signed lower right

116 woLF KAHN (b . 1927 ) The Red Barn, 1971, oil on linen, 48 x 52 inches, Signed lower right

117 woLF KAHN (b . 1927 ) Locusts to the Valley, 1991, Pastel, 14 x 16 7/8 inches, Signed lower right

118 woLF KAHN (b . 1927 ) Tank, Mesquite and Blue Bonnets, 1985, oil on canvas, 28 x 34 inches, Signed lower right

119 wAYNE TH IEBAuD (b . 1920) Six Italian Desserts, 1979, Color lithograph, edition of 150, 15 x 20 inches,

Signed and dated lower right, numbered lower left

120 wAYNE TH IEBAuD (b . 1920) Bramble Trees, 1957, gouache, 9 1/2 x 24 inches, Signed and dated lower left

121 KE ITH JACoBsHAgE N (b . 1941) A Golden Year, 2010, oil on copper, 3 1/2 x 5 inches (each), Signed and annotated on verso

During 2010, Jacobshagen created an individual painting on copper for each day of the year.

(Pictured) July 1 to July 6, 2010

122 KE ITH JACoBsHAgE N (b . 1941) Bright Sky, Middle Summer, 1986, oil on canvas, 44 x 46 inches, Signed lower right

ARTIsTs

henry hoWard baGG

thoM as hart benton

edWin bruns

John steuart curry

terrence duren

John falter

Ke ith JacobshaGen

Wolf K ahn

rocKWell Kent

Will ia M Wind McKiM

roGer Medear is

dale n ichols

b irGer sandZen

franc isco souto

Wayne th i ebaud

Grant Wood

I TEm NumBERs

108

1-41

86

59-85, 87, 88

112-114

111

121-122

116-118

107

115

89-93

94-106

109-110

123

119-120

42-58

123 FRANC IsCo souTo (b . 1973)

Zacatecas #3,

2010, graphite, 22 x 22 inches,

Signed on verso

gALLERY

5733 Sou t H 3 4t H St r eet, Su It e 3 0 0

L I nCoL n, n eBr a Sk a 6 8516

t 4 02 .4 2 0 .9553 / F 4 02 .4 2 0 .955 4

gALLERY@KIEC HELART.Com

w w w.KIEC HELART.Com

DIRECToR

BuC k k I eC H eL

BuC k@k I eC H eL a rt.Com


5733 S ou tH 34tH Str e et, SuIte 300, L In C oLn, ne 68516

gaLLe ry@k IeC He L art.C om w w w.k IeC He L art.C om

Images of the 20th Century

Documents

e c h e

f i n e

delphic exhibition

delphic studios exhibition

i ncol n

bentons bentons

lumber camp drawings

exhibition of drawings