Curry, John Steuart (1897-1946), an American painter, became famous for his dramatic scenes of Midwestern rural life. He admired this life for what he considered its enduring goodness and simplicity. The best known of his works include Baptism in Kansas (1928) and Tornado over Kansas (1929). Curry belonged to the art movement of the 1930’s known as regionalism. This movement attempted to portray the American scene during the hard times of the Great Depression. He painted murals for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior buildings in Washington, D.C., and for the Kansas Capitol in Topeka.
Curry was born on Nov. 14, 1897, in Dunavant, Kansas. He studied at the Kansas Art Institute, at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then for a year in Paris. Curry died on Aug. 29, 1946.
