Tragic Prelude

Last updated
Tragic Prelude
The Tragic Prelude John Brown.jpg
Tragic Prelude, north wall. John Brown in front of and between fighting Union and Confederate soldiers.
Artist John Steuart Curry
Year1942
MediumOil and egg tempera
Subject History of Kansas, John Brown
Dimensions345 cm× 945 cm(136 in× 372 in);11'4" x 31'
Location Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, Kansas

Tragic Prelude is a mural painted by Kansan John Steuart Curry for the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas. It is located on the east side of the second floor rotunda. On the north wall it depicts the abolitionist John Brown with a Bible in one hand, on which the Greek letters alpha and omega of Revelation 1:8 can be seen. In his other hand he holds a rifle, referred to as the "Beecher's Bibles". He is in front of Union and Confederate soldiers, living and dead, with a tornado and a prairie fire approaching. Emigrants with covered wagons travel from east to west.

Contents

The "tragic prelude" is the Bleeding Kansas period of 1854–1860, seen as a prelude to or dress rehearsal for the Civil War, a period of which John Brown was at the center, fighting to prevent Kansas from being made a slave state. The term "tragic prelude" for this period of Kansas history is attributed by Curry to his champion, the newspaper editor William Allen White.

However, the mural has other figures in addition to Brown, as it turns a corner and continues on another wall, making it difficult to photograph in its entirety. The three figures are rarely discussed as part of the work. Chronologically from right to left are the Franciscan missionary Fray Juan de Padilla and the conquistador Coronado, the first Europeans to visit the land that became Kansas, followed by a plainsman, who has just killed a buffalo.

It is by far Curry's most famous work; the only work of his to have a book devoted to it. [1]

History

Emporia Gazette editor William Allen White began the campaign to get Curry to paint murals for his native Kansas rather than Wisconsin (whose university offered him employment he could not find in Kansas). Other newspapers joined in, and the result was the Kansas Murals Commission. Chaired by Governor Walter Huxman, it was charged with choosing a Kansas artist or artists to create murals for the Capitol, as Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton had done in the Missouri State Capitol. [1] :37–39

Benton's very large mural was on the topic of, and titled, A Social History of Missouri. [2] The Commission decided, not without some controversy, that in contrast with the Missouri Capitol, where Benton was one of several artists, Curry would be the sole artist to create murals for the Kansas Capitol, on the theme of Kansas history. [1] :37–39 No state money was involved; White led a fundraising campaign that easily succeeded in raising the money to hire Curry. [1] :39

Curry painted Tragic Prelude from 1937 to 1942, using egg tempera and oils. It is 11 feet 4 inches (350 cm) tall, and 31 feet (940 cm) long. [3]

Curry's description

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (left) and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, 2012 Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (left) and U.S. Secretary of Education --Arne Duncan observe a mural at the Kansas State Capitol in 2012.jpg
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (left) and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, 2012

Curry later described the work as follows:

Centered on the north wall (31′ x 11′6″ [9.4m x 3.5m]) is the gigantic figure of John Brown. In his outstretched left hand the word of God and in the right a “Beecher's Bible." Beside him facing each other are the contending free soil and pro-slavery forces. At their feet, two figures symbolic of the million and a half dead of the North and South. In this group is expressed the fratricidal fury that first flamed on the plains of Kansas, the Tragic Prelude to the last bloody feud of the English-speaking people. Back of this group are the pioneers and their wagons on the endless trek to the West, and back of all the tornado and the raging prairie fire, fitting symbols of the destruction of the coming Civil War. [2]

In a newspaper interview of 1939, he explained that "I wanted to paint him as a fanatic, for John Brown was a fanatic. He had the wild zeal of the extremist, the fanatic for his cause—and we had the Civil War, with its untold misery." [2] Later, he wrote in a letter: "I think he is the prototype of a great many Kansans. Someone described a Kansan as one who went about wreaking good on humanity. This might be the kernel of my conception." [2]

Rejection of Tragic Prelude

The Kansas Legislature rejected the mural and refused to hang it in the Capitol as planned. Curry left Kansas in disgust, abandoning the rest of his Capitol project, and did not sign this or the other completed work, Kansas Pastoral, because he considered the project incomplete. It was hung in the Capitol after his death. [4] His planned first-floor rotunda panels never got beyond preliminary sketches. Much to the displeasure of some Kansans, and reflecting the views of agronomists at his employer, the Agricultural College of the University of Wisconsin, one panel blamed poor farming practices for the erosion and dust storms of the 1930s. [1] :124

Archival material

A study for the mural is in the Spencer Museum. [5]

Tragic Prelude appears on an anti-fascist sign, Greensboro, NC, 2017. Trump Welcome Parties in Greensboro (37312324720).jpg
Tragic Prelude appears on an anti-fascist sign, Greensboro, NC, 2017.

The image was used as the album cover of Kansas (1974), the debut album of the rock band Kansas. [6]

Poster recreations and T-shirts were made every year for the annual "Border War" between the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri. [4]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hart Benton (painter)</span> American painter (1889–1975)

Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States.

For many decades, Kansas has had a vibrant country and bluegrass scene. The Country Stampede Music Festival – one of the largest music festivals in the country – and the bluegrass/acoustic Walnut Valley Festival are testament to the continued popularity of these music genres in the state. Among current leading country artists, Martina McBride and Chely Wright are natives of Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Statuary Hall</span> Chamber in the United States Capitol

The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. The meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857), after a few years of disuse it was repurposed as a statuary hall in 1864; this is when the National Statuary Hall Collection was established. By 1933, the collection had outgrown this single room, and a number of statues are placed elsewhere within the Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bleeding Kansas</span> Violent slavery-related confrontations in Kansas territory in latter half of 1850s

Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Steuart Curry</span> American painter (1897–1946)

John Steuart Curry was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, he was hailed as one of the three great painters of American Regionalism of the first half of the twentieth century. Curry's artistic production was varied, including paintings, book illustrations, prints, and posters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Allen White</span> American newspaper editor and Progressive leader (1868–1944)

William Allen White was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.

<i>Kansas</i> (Kansas album) 1974 studio album by Kansas

Kansas is the debut studio album by American progressive rock band Kansas, released in 1974 by Kirshner in the United States and Epic Records in other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Kansas

The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in the city of Topeka, which has served as the capital of Kansas since the territory became a state in 1861, the building is the second to serve as the Kansas Capitol. During the territorial period (1854–1861), an earlier capitol building was begun but not completed in Lecompton, Kansas, and smaller structures in Lecompton and Topeka were where the territorial legislatures met.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regionalism (art)</span> American realist art movement

American Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting realistic scenes of rural and small-town America primarily in the Midwest. It arose in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression, and ended in the 1940s due to the end of World War II and a lack of development within the movement. It reached its height of popularity from 1930 to 1935, as it was widely appreciated for its reassuring images of the American heartland during the Great Depression. Despite major stylistic differences between specific artists, Regionalist art in general was in a relatively conservative and traditionalist style that appealed to popular American sensibilities, while strictly opposing the perceived domination of French art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Capitol rotunda</span> Component of United States Capitol

The United States Capitol building features a central rotunda below the Capitol dome. Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Banks Wilson</span> American painter

Charles Banks Wilson was an American artist. Wilson was born in Springdale, Arkansas in 1918; his family eventually moved to Miami, Oklahoma, where he spent his childhood. A painter, printmaker, teacher, lecturer, historian, magazine and book illustrator, Wilson's work has been shown in over 200 exhibitions in the United States and across the globe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Kansas</span> Overview of and topical guide to Kansas

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Kansas:

Wilber Moore Stilwell (1908–1974) was an American depression era artist, White House/National Gallery of Art/American Artists Professional League honoree, inventor, patent holder, author, and Chair of Art, University of South Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Craven</span>

Thomas Craven was an American author, critic and lecturer, who promoted the work of American Regionalist painters, Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood, among others. He was known for his caustic comments and being the "leading decrier of the School of Paris."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunavant, Kansas</span> Unincorporated community in Kansas, U.S.

Dunavant is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Kansas, United States.

Achelous and Hercules is a 1947 mural painting by Thomas Hart Benton. It depicts a bluejeans-wearing Hercules wrestling with the horns of a bull, a shape the protean river god Achelous was able to assume. The myth was one of the explanations offered by Greco-Roman mythology for the origin of the cornucopia, a symbol of agricultural abundance. Benton sets the scene during harvest time in the U.S. Midwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota State Capitol artwork</span> History and usage of artwork at the state capitol

The Minnesota State Capitol opened in 1905 with roughly 60 artworks that totaled $300,000, or 7% of the $4.5-million project budget. Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Capitol building, had envisioned that the artworks would add "educational value" and provide for the "advancement of civilization and intelligence." Over the years, more artworks would be added to the Capitol, totaling nearly 150 by 2017. Much of the Capitol art is allegorical, as expressed through murals and sculptures, while some feature key moments in Minnesota history. While the allegorical symbolism used in the paintings would have been more widely understood during the time they were painted, over time the meanings have been challenged.

<i>Tornado over Kansas</i> 1929 painting by John Steuart Curry

Tornado over Kansas, or simply The Tornado, is a 1929 oil-on-canvas painting by the American Regionalist painter John Steuart Curry. It depicts a dramatic scene in which a family races for shelter as a tornado approaches their farm, and has compositional connections to Curry's earlier 1928 painting Baptism in Kansas. The artist is believed to have been influenced by Baroque art and photographs of tornadoes. He developed a fear of natural disasters and a reverence towards God during his childhood, both of which are apparent in the painting.

<i>Freeing of the Slaves</i> Painting by John Steuart Curry

Freeing of the Slaves is an oil and tempera on canvas painting by American artist John Steuart Curry, created in 1942. It is an allegory to the Emancipation Proclamation and the abolition of slavery in the United States, in 1864. It is exhibited at the Law Library's Quarles and Brady Reading Room, in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in Madison.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kendall, M. Sue. (1986). Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy'. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN   0874745683.
  2. 1 2 3 4 McQuillen, Charles (March 25, 2017). "Cross-Curricular Connect: "Tragic Prelude"". Archived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  3. "Kansas Prelude". Kansas Memory. Kansas Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  4. 1 2 "The Controversy Surrounding Tragic Prelude". Peoples of Kansas. 17 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  5. "Spencer Museum of Art | Collection – sketch for Tragic Prelude I (John Brown)". collection.spencerart.ku.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  6. Chantler, Chris (January 2, 2016). "The 10 best album sleeves taken from old paintings". Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2019-04-10.