Hogs Killing a Snake the Art Institute of Chicago

c. 1930

John Steuart Curry
American, 1897–1946

Along with Grant Forest and Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry attained significant fame as one of the iii most important Regionalist painters of the 1930s. In 1941 Wood wrote well-nigh Curry: "It was action he loved most to interpret: the lunge through infinite, the split up second before the impale, the suspended moment before the storm strikes." Hogs Killing a Ophidian reveals his fascination with the violence of nature and the struggle for survival. Curry deliberately constructed the dynamic composition to raise the vitality of his subject; the hogs converge from all angles upon the writhing snake, giving a sense of fierce move. Curry accentuated the vigor of the composition with his painting technique, using short, choppy brushstrokes and even scratching on the surface of the paint to suggest the bristling hair on the hogs' backs. Although the subject was ostensibly drawn from a childhood experience, the painting transcends mere realism to become well-nigh ballsy.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: John Steuart Back-scratch
Title: Hogs Killing a Snake
Origin: United states of america
Date: c. 1930
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed l.r.: JOHN STEUART Back-scratch
Dimensions: 76.5 × 97.3 cm (30 one/8 × 38 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by an anonymous donor
Reference Number: 1947.392

Forbes Watson, The Star Spangled Banner, The Arts 18, 1 (October 1931), sick. p. 54.
"John Steuart Curry; John Butler; Ferargil Galleries," Art News thirty, iii (October 17, 1931), 10.
Laurence E. Schmeckebier, John Steuart Curry's Pageant of America (American Artists Grouping, 1943), 30, 195, 347, fig. 161, 196.
Life, 1943, 371.
James Thrall Soby and Dorothy C. Miller, Romantic Painting in America, exh. cat. (Museum of Modern Art, 1943), 45–46, cat. 66, ill. p. 119.
American Artists Grouping Monograph no 14, John Steuart Back-scratch, 1945, 2.
"John Steuart Curry: 1897–1946," Bulletin from Associated American Artists 36 (September 1946), n.p.
Alexander Eliot, Three Hundred Years of American Painting (Time Incorporated, 1957), 217, ill. p. 215.
John I. H. Baur, Revolution and Tradition in Modern American Fine art (Harvard University Press, 1951), xc–91, pl. 143.
John Steuart Curry: A Retrospective Exhibition of his work held in the Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, Oct iii–Nov three, 1970, reprinted from Kansas Quarterly (Academy Printing of Kansas, 1970), 10, 44.
Lawrence Alloway, "The Recovery of Regionalism: John Steuart Curry," Art in America, 64, 4 (July–August 1976), 71, ill. p. seventy.
Patricia Junker, John Steuart Back-scratch: Inventing the Center West (Hudson Hills Press in clan with the Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1998), 116, 124, 222, 227, pl. 21.
James M. Dennis, Renegade Regionalists: The Modernistic Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry (University of Wisconsin Printing, 1998), xvi–17, fig. v.
Judith A. Barter et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From Earth War I to 1955, (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale Academy Press, 2009), true cat. 78.

New York, Ferargil Galleries, John Steuart Curry: Recent Paintings, Oct 12–25, 1931, no cat.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 128th Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Jan 29–Mar 19, 1933, cat. 308, every bit Hogs Killing a Ophidian.
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings by Artists of the Usa, 1934–35, true cat. 26, ill.
Walker Galleries, New York, Opening Exhibition: Paintings by Half dozen Americans, Nov 12–28, 1935, true cat. 9.
San Francisco, Ca., Gilt Gate International Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Gimmicky Art,
[Feb nineteen–October 29], 1939, true cat. United States 94, ill. p. 51.
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, An Exhibition of Contemporary Painting in the United States, Selected from the Department of Fine Arts, Gilt Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, Jan 1940, true cat. 17; Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, Feb 1940, Montreal, Art Association of Montreal, Mar 1940.
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Department of Fine Arts, Survey of American Painting, Oct 24–Dec 15, 1940, true cat. 304, ill., as Hogs Killing a Rattlesnake.
New York, Museum of Modern Fine art, Romantic Painting in America, Nov 17, 1943–Feb six, 1944, cat. 66, ill.
Milwaukee Art Found, Art of John Steuart Curry, Sep 5–Oct fifteen, 1946, cat. 19.
New York, Associated American Artists, John Steuart Curry: Twenty Years of His Fine art, Mar 24–April 12, 1947, cat. 6, as Hogs Killing a Rattlesnake.
Des Moines Fine art Heart, Jan xxx–Feb 26, 1950.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The 75th Anniversary Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture by 75 Artists associated with the Art Students League of New York, [Mar 15–May 31], 1951, cat. 68, ill.
Bloomington–Normal Art Association, Nov 2–23, 1952.
Minneapolis, University of Minnesota University Gallery, 20th Century American Painting, Jun 15–Sep fifteen, 1953; St. Paul, Minn., St. Paul Gallery & Schoolhouse of Art, Sep 27–Nov i, 1953.
Des Moines Art Middle, Communicating Art from Midwest Collections: American and European Paintings and Sculpture 1835–1955, October 13–November 6, 1955, true cat. 22, sick.
New York, American Federation of Art, European Circuit: American Painting of this Century, May i–Aug 13, 1956. [Did non travel in Europe.]
New York, Syracuse University, Joe and Emily Lowe Art Center, A Retrospective Exhibition of Work past John Steuart Curry, Oct seven–Nov 2, 1956, unnumbered cat., dated 1931.
Lawrence, University of Kansas Museum of Art, John Steuart Curry 1897–1946, Apr thirteen–May 24, 1957, cat. eleven, ill.
Lake Woods, Ill., Lake Forest College, Durand Art Institute, A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Fine art Institute of Chicago, Jun 10–16, 1957, cat. 23, equally Hogs Killing a Rattlesnake.
Wisconsin, Madison Art Eye, John Steuart Curry: An Exhibition, January 19–February 23, 1969, cat. 20.
Topeka, University of Kansas Museum of Fine art, John Steuart Back-scratch: A Retrospective Exhibition of his work held in the Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, Oct three–Nov 3, 1970, true cat. x, ill. p. 64.
Texas, Tyler Museum of Fine art, American Painting 1900 to Present, Mar 21–Apr 28, 1971, unnumbered cat., sick.
Neenah, Wisconsin, Bergstrom Art Middle, John Steuart Curry, Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, Mar 29–Apr 23, 1972.
Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Artists 100 Years: Alumni of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Centennial Exhibition, Nov 23, 1979–January 20, 1980, cat. 29.
Madison, Wisconsin, Elvehjem Museum of Art, John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle Westward, Mar 7–May 17, 1998, pl. 21; San Francisco, Ca., Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, de Immature Museum, Jun 1–Aug 30, 1998; Kansas City, Mo., Nelson–Atkins Museum of Fine art, Oct 11, 1998–January 3, 1999.
Fine art Institute of Chicago, America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s, Jun five–Sep eighteen, 2016; Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, October 15, 2016–Jan 30, 2017; London, Royal Academy, Feb 25–Jun four, 2017, cat. 10.

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