TitleBelgian Stallions
Artist
John Steuart Curry
(American, 1897 - 1946)
Date1938
MediumOil on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 30 × 25 1/2 in.
Framed: 36 3/4 × 32 × 4 in.
SignedSigned at lower right: "JOHN STEUART CURRY / 1938".
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, October 4, 1943
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number317-P
Label TextAs a child in Kansas, John Steuart Curry's imagination was stirred by the revival meetings, the severe storms and other aspects of the indigenous life of a rural Kansas farm community. In his mature work he turned that experience into a heighten realist imagery expressive of the spiritual values of America's heartland. Curry, with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, formed the triumvirate known as the Regionalists, who represented the survival of a strong realist tradition in American painting in the twentieth century. In 1916 Curry went to study briefly at the Kansas City Art Institute, and shortly thereafter at the Art Institute of Chicago. After serving in World War I he finished his education at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In 1927 Curry completed his first major work, Baptism in Kansas, which received favorable reviews when it was exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D. C. The following year he became a member of the Whitney Studio Club, in New York, which provided a stipend. He continued to work from the model, and attended anatomy lectures at the Art Students League.In December 1936 Curry was appointed artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture. Curry was quoted as saying "I don't think Kansas offered me the opportunity which is here at the University of Wisconsin. I have tried for recognition from Kansas, but have had little success." During his stay in Wisconsin Curry painted a numerous landscapes and animal scenes. "Belgian Stallions" was created after the artist encountered a group of Percheron stallions which were being prepared for a coming livestock show and was developed from a drawing that appeared on the April 1938 cover of the student publication Wisconsin Country Magazine. Curry repeated the image in a lithograph of 1938.
