In the first of these two volumes, M. Sue Kendall treats the cultural contexts that helped shape the paintings of John Steuart Curry and sparked reactions to his murals at the Kansas statehouse in Topeka. Emphasizing the details of Curry\u27s life and how they interlocked with national, historical, and political happenings between 1937 and 1942, Kendall focuses particularly on the ideological and cultural attitudes that embroiled Curry, newspaper editors, and thousands of Kansans in the mural controversy

Etulain, Richard W

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1988 Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture. Richard W. Etulain University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Etulain, Richard W., "Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture." (1988). Great Plains Quarterly. 360. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/360 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 234 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1988 Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy. By M. Sue Kendall. New Directions in American Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986. Illustrations, color plates, notes, selected bibliography, index. 164 pp. $39.95 cloth, $19.95 paper. Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Cul-ture. By James M. Dennis. Columbia: Uni-versity of Missouri Press, 1975, 1986. Illustrations, color plates, notes, index. 256 pp. $55. In the first of these two volumes, M. Sue Kendall treats the cultural contexts that helped shape the paintings of John Steuart Curry and sparked reactions to his murals at the Kansas statehouse in Topeka. Emphasizing the details of Curry's life and how they interlocked with national, historical, and political happenings between 1937 and 1942, Kendall focuses par-ticularly on the ideological and cultural atti-tudes that embroiled Curry, newspaper editors, and thousands of Kansans in the mural contro-versy. Most of this smoothly written and adequately illustrated study centers on the cultural back-grounds of the Coronado and John Brown panels in the Kansas murals, with less analysis of other sections and details. Placing her art history at the vortex of popular culture, the author pro-vides revealing insights into the varied milieus of the 1930s, Curry's intellectual backgrounds, and Kansas history and experience that caused the debate. Unfortunately, although the author's title, "Rethmking Regionalism," promises a good deal, she does not follow up very explicitly on that intriguing topic. Suggesting that Curry's paint-ings, especially those in his controversial mu-rals, are not so much regionalistic as examples of personal, popular, and national cultural-in-tellectual currents, she fails to deal explicitly or expansively with how Curry's works are not re-gional. In fact, regionalism is not her central topic, despite her title. On the other hand, while Kendall's com-ments on regionalism are disappointingly brief, she has provided a probing and valuable study of art history that tells a good deal about Curry, the 1930s, and Kansas values. As such, her monograph, based on apt uses of manuscript correspondence, newspapers, and cultural stud-ies, is a much more than satisfactory book wor-thy of mention alongside the work of her mentor in American Studies, Karal Ann Marling, whose recent studies of popular and regional art de-serve top billing in those fields. In the second volume, James M. Dennis's reprinted (and slightly enlarged) study of Grant Wood, the author examines the aesthetic, re-gional, and cultural environments of the Iowa painter. The most significant section of this stunningly illustrated book centers on Wood's regionalism and, in part, on his contrasts with and similarities to the ideas and experiences of the other two members of the 1930s midwestern artlstlc triumvirate, Curry and Thomas Hart Benton. Less pugnacious and ideological than Benton and more inclined to see nature as be-neficent and fruitful than Curry, Wood none-theless shared with the Missourian and Kansan the conviction that the most notable American art came from painters treating local subjects they knew well. Dennis devotes considerable space to close readings of dozens of Wood's most notable paintings, including American Gothic (1930) and Stone City (1930). In these discussions Dennis explores clearly and nearly always convincingly the aesthetic, cultural, and biographical con-texts for these major works. Even lay readers will be able to follow his analyses of design, decoration, and technique. One cannot say as much, however, for the chapters detailing Wood's ties to long-held American traditions, such as to the yeoman farmer and the agrarian myth. The final chapters on these topics, brief and very general, weaken Dennis's otherwise strong volume. Both Kendall and Dennis find regionalism an intriguing topic, but they approach the sub-ject differently. While Kendall compares Cur-ry's paintings with the fiction of Iowa novelist Ruth Suckow, Dennis parallels Wood's artistic works with those of the southern literary Agrar-ians. Still, neither author expands much on the important national and western regional move-ments that rippled across the country in the 1920s and 1930s. Other writers ought to study this nationwide regionalism that characterized several western subregions in historiography, literature, art, and architecture during these two decades. Comparative regional studies, espe-cially of the South and West, are likewise needed. Although these two useful analyses of John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood add much to an understanding of these midwestern paint-ers, they also remind one of how much still needs to be learned about regionalism. RICHARD W. ETULAIN Department of History University of New Mexico BOOK REVIEWS 235 

Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture.

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
1988 
Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the 
Kansas Mural Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American 
Art and Culture. 
Richard W. Etulain 
University of New Mexico 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Etulain, Richard W., "Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural 
Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture." (1988). Great Plains Quarterly. 360. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/360 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
234 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1988 
Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and 
the Kansas Mural Controversy. By M. Sue 
Kendall. New Directions in American Art. 
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution 
Press, 1986. Illustrations, color plates, notes, 
selected bibliography, index. 164 pp. $39.95 
cloth, $19.95 paper. 
Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Cul-
ture. By James M. Dennis. Columbia: Uni-
versity of Missouri Press, 1975, 1986. 
Illustrations, color plates, notes, index. 256 
pp. $55. 
In the first of these two volumes, M. Sue 
Kendall treats the cultural contexts that helped 
shape the paintings of John Steuart Curry and 
sparked reactions to his murals at the Kansas 
statehouse in Topeka. Emphasizing the details 
of Curry's life and how they interlocked with 
national, historical, and political happenings 
between 1937 and 1942, Kendall focuses par-
ticularly on the ideological and cultural atti-
tudes that embroiled Curry, newspaper editors, 
and thousands of Kansans in the mural contro-
versy. 
Most of this smoothly written and adequately 
illustrated study centers on the cultural back-
grounds of the Coronado and John Brown panels 
in the Kansas murals, with less analysis of other 
sections and details. Placing her art history at 
the vortex of popular culture, the author pro-
vides revealing insights into the varied milieus 
of the 1930s, Curry's intellectual backgrounds, 
and Kansas history and experience that caused 
the debate. 
Unfortunately, although the author's title, 
"Rethmking Regionalism," promises a good deal, 
she does not follow up very explicitly on that 
intriguing topic. Suggesting that Curry's paint-
ings, especially those in his controversial mu-
rals, are not so much regionalistic as examples 
of personal, popular, and national cultural-in-
tellectual currents, she fails to deal explicitly or 
expansively with how Curry's works are not re-
gional. In fact, regionalism is not her central 
topic, despite her title. 
On the other hand, while Kendall's com-
ments on regionalism are disappointingly brief, 
she has provided a probing and valuable study 
of art history that tells a good deal about Curry, 
the 1930s, and Kansas values. As such, her 
monograph, based on apt uses of manuscript 
correspondence, newspapers, and cultural stud-
ies, is a much more than satisfactory book wor-
thy of mention alongside the work of her mentor 
in American Studies, Karal Ann Marling, whose 
recent studies of popular and regional art de-
serve top billing in those fields. 
In the second volume, James M. Dennis's 
reprinted (and slightly enlarged) study of Grant 
Wood, the author examines the aesthetic, re-
gional, and cultural environments of the Iowa 
painter. The most significant section of this 
stunningly illustrated book centers on Wood's 
regionalism and, in part, on his contrasts with 
and similarities to the ideas and experiences of 
the other two members of the 1930s midwestern 
artlstlc triumvirate, Curry and Thomas Hart 
Benton. Less pugnacious and ideological than 
Benton and more inclined to see nature as be-
neficent and fruitful than Curry, Wood none-
theless shared with the Missourian and Kansan 
the conviction that the most notable American 
art came from painters treating local subjects 
they knew well. 
Dennis devotes considerable space to close 
readings of dozens of Wood's most notable 
paintings, including American Gothic (1930) and 
Stone City (1930). In these discussions Dennis 
explores clearly and nearly always convincingly 
the aesthetic, cultural, and biographical con-
texts for these major works. Even lay readers 
will be able to follow his analyses of design, 
decoration, and technique. One cannot say as 
much, however, for the chapters detailing 
Wood's ties to long-held American traditions, 
such as to the yeoman farmer and the agrarian 
myth. The final chapters on these topics, brief 
and very general, weaken Dennis's otherwise 
strong volume. 
Both Kendall and Dennis find regionalism 
an intriguing topic, but they approach the sub-
ject differently. While Kendall compares Cur-
ry's paintings with the fiction of Iowa novelist 
Ruth Suckow, Dennis parallels Wood's artistic 
works with those of the southern literary Agrar-
ians. Still, neither author expands much on the 
important national and western regional move-
ments that rippled across the country in the 
1920s and 1930s. Other writers ought to study 
this nationwide regionalism that characterized 
several western subregions in historiography, 
literature, art, and architecture during these two 
decades. Comparative regional studies, espe-
cially of the South and West, are likewise 
needed. Although these two useful analyses of 
John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood add much 
to an understanding of these midwestern paint-
ers, they also remind one of how much still 
needs to be learned about regionalism. 
RICHARD W. ETULAIN 
Department of History 
University of New Mexico 
BOOK REVIEWS 235 


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Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture.

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