Tragic Prelude

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Tragic Prelude
Tragic Prelude, north wall. John Brown in front of and between fighting Union and Confederate soldiers.
ArtistJohn Steuart Curry
Year1942
MediumOil and egg tempera
SubjectHistory of Kansas, John Brown
Dimensions136 cm × 945 cm (136 in × 372 in); 11'4" x 31'
LocationKansas State Capitol, Topeka, Kansas

Tragic Prelude is a mural painted by Kansan

covered wagons
travel from east to west.

The "tragic prelude" is the

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

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

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

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]

In popular culture

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

  • Coppel, Stephen (July 2008). "John Steuart Curry's Lithograph 'John Brown'".
    JSTOR 40479802
    .
  • Kretsinger-Harries, Anne Catherine (2011). The Contestable John Brown: Abolitionism and the Civil War in U.S. Public Memory. M.A. thesis, Pennsylvania State University.

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b "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.

External links