Curry, John Steuart (1897-1946)

US painter. A well known Regionalist of the 1930s and a painter for the US government's Federal Art Project, Curry worked mainly in the genre of the American Scene. Although he settled on the urban East coast, he devoted himself primarily to painting pictures of rural life from Kansas, his native state, choosing dramatic or emotional themes, such as the advance of a tornado or a country baptism. He was responsible for bringing the rural life of the Midwest to the galleries of New York City. Baptism in Kansas (1928; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York) is the most significant of his early paintings.

Curry was born in Dunavant, Kansas. He studied in Kansas City, at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in Paris for eight months. His paintings, characterized by the depiction of universal themes (timeless and commonly-shared concepts, such as love), continue to influence both rural and urban artists. Other works such as Tornado Over Kansas (1929; Muskegon Museum of Art Muskegon, Michigan) illustrate his connection with his rural roots, and his concern for the human condition. Fellow Regionalists included Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton.