Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Regionalist artists were often drawn to historical themes, particularly for government-sponsored mural projects. Many incorporated people and events that were relevant to the particular locale. A native Kansan, John Steuart Curry based this print on a study for the central figure in his mural The Tragic Prelude for the rotunda of the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka. The wild-eyed abolitionist John Brown with his flowing beard and outstreched artms suggests a biblical prophet or religious martyr. An enslaved person and a cyclone on his right and an out of control wildfire on his left symbolize both Brown's zealous mission and the conflict that raged over the extension of slavery into the Kansas territory in the 1850s. The full-length figure in the final mural carries a rifle in one hand and a bible in the other, while standing in front of Union and Conferderate troops.