With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
John Steuart Curry
Illustration
1897 – 1946
- Biography/Description of Work
John Steuart Curry and James Henry Daugherty were two artists in the Connecticut Federal Arts Project who were nationally and internationally celebrated. Curry was one of the three top regionalist artists in the country, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton being the two others. He was born on November 14, 1897, near Dunavant, Kansas. He took his first art lessons at the age of 12. He went on to attend three years of art school, starting at the Kansas City Art Institute and transferring to the Art Institute of Chicago and then to Geneva College in Pennsylvania. He was soon working as a commercial artist, creating illustrations for the publications Country Gentleman, Boy’s Life, and the Saturday Evening Post. He married Clara Derrick in 1923 and the following year bought a studio in Westport, Connecticut.
- Sources view
- Uconn database, http://wpa.cslib.org/index.php/582/curry-jon-steuart/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steuart_Curry, http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/john-steuart-curry/12028, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/john-steuart-curry-and-curry-family-papers-9459/more, http://www.johnsteuartcurry.net/, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec98/curry_8-13.html, http://whitney.org/Collection/JohnSteuartCurry, http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/8wondersofkansas-view.php?id=30, http://www.muskegonartmuseum.org/collections-gallery/gallery John Steuart Curry Article - New York Times - 1936-9-20, John Steuart Curry Article - New York Times - 1937-11-27, John Steuart Curry Article - New York Times - 1938-1-17, John Steuart Curry Article - New York Times - 1946-8-31, John Steuart Curry Article - New York Times - 1947-3-25, John Steuart Curry Obituary - New York Times - 1946-8-30, John Steuart Curry Obituary - The Hartford Courant - 1946-8-30
- Associated Resource(s)
- n/a