Artwork by John Steuart Curry

This page explores the notable artwork by John Steuart Curry. During Curry's lifetime he was prolific in a number of mediums, including painting, mural work, and illustrations. The page captures the most notable works, alongside many of his other works and describes their publication context.

A list begins each section talking about the works contained within that medium or genre and are sorted by date. Following each list is a discussion of the context in which that work was produced. Currently the list is incomplete and does not include images of the individual pieces of artwork because much of it is still under copyright. The references on each citation for works links to websites for the organization holding the collection, or, if not available, links to website depicting the image.

The United States Department of the Interior Murals in Washington D.C., The Homestead, and The Oklahoma Land Rush, were painted with oil and tempera on canvas and installed November 1938 by John Steuart Curry. Created during the Great Depression, the murals are the product of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The two murals depict events of the time period, the Homestead Acts and the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889. Early sketches of figures and ideas are held by archives located at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University.

This mural is nine foot by 19 feet eight inch. It represents a homestead with the typical features that make up its ideal of blessed peace, happiness, and potential prosperity of ensuring rural life.The Homestead features a mother and her daughter paring potatoes near a small garden for the family meal. A young son holds the fence posts while his father drives them into the ground. An older sister drives the wagon full of spikes while she also cares for the youngest child. Each member of the family is actively working and contributing its energies to the productive whole. Near the bottom left of the mural, roosters, chicks, and chickens peck and feed near the foreground garden as bountiful reminders of their capacity to provide this frontier family with eggs.

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