By John Steuart Curry
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Study for The Aerialists)
Graphite on paper, 1932
Signed lower right in pencil: "John Steuart Curry"
Dated: 1932 in pencil
Exhibited:
Schroeder Romero & Shredder, NYC (label), Master Drawings, Oct. 13, 2011-Nov. 12, 2011 (see photo of label)
Arkansas Arts Center (label), 44th Collector Show & Sale, Nov. 30-December 30, 2012, Offered at $22,000.
(see photo of label)
This drawing is closely related to a painting by Curry entitled The Aerialists, 1932, once in the Erskine Collection, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is part of a group of preliminary drawings and three finished paintings executed by Curry around 1932 which were based on The Flying Cadonas. The painting The Flying Cadonas is an icon of American art purchased by the Whitney Museum of Art and now on permanent exhibition.
There are other know studies for these works, nos. 199 through 222 and in John Steuart Curry: Rural America, page 32 (Mongerson Wunderlich, Chicago, 1990.
Provenance:
Mrs. Kathleen Curry (artist’s widow), included in the estate schedule of works
Treadway Toomey Auction, Oak Park, Illinois, 2009
Don Joint, New York
An important American Regionalist drawing.
Like Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry was a major American scene painter of the 1930s. His subjects were taken from American history and his most famous mural, The Tragic Prelude...
Category
1930s American Modern Alfred Grevin Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
