News

From Tragedy To Triumph, A New Exhibition At The Muskegon Museum of Art Showcases The Art And Life Of Iconic American Artist John Steuart Curry

Posted on

The Muskegon Museum of Art (MMA) is proud to present the exhibition: John Steuart Curry:  Weathering the Storm. From May 23 – September 2, 2024 the exhibition will feature masterworks of one of America’s  most influential painters which will be exhibited together for the first time in over 25 years. 

Iconic paintings, such as The Tornado (Tornado Over Kansas) and Baptism in Kansas, will be featured in the exhibition  alongside other notable works loaned from The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Cincinnati Art Museum, The  Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Saint Louis Art Museum, The Sheldon Museum of Art, The Syracuse University Art  Museum, and Kiechel Fine Art. 

“The Muskegon Museum of Art is home to one of Curry’s most famous paintings, The Tornado (Tornado  Over Kansas), as well as one of the best art collections of a small art museum in the country. Over the past  112 years, the MMA has enjoyed a reputation of being a small museum presenting exhibitions that  regularly receive national attention. In this tradition, we are proud to present this groundbreaking John  Steuart Curry exhibition,” says Kirk Hallman, MMA Executive Director. 

The exhibition highlights the artwork that visually defined the Midwest and tells the captivating and tragic story  behind the work and life of John Steuart Curry. His paintings, which depict picturesque rural landscapes, communal  gatherings, and most famously, the devastating natural disasters that impacted the Midwest, influenced the national  perception of life in the region through popular culture and media in the late 1920s and beyond. 

For this exhibition, the Muskegon Museum of Art has partnered with art historian Patricia Junker, whose new  research and insight into Curry challenges the conventional understanding of Curry and reveals the deeply personal,  and emotionally tragic inspiration behind his breakthrough paintings and how a Kansas farm boy came to create  paintings that became iconic visions of America’s Midwest in popular culture. 

John Steuart Curry: Weathering the Storm runs from May 23 – September 2, 2024, only at the Muskegon Museum of  Art. 

For more information or questions, contact Kristina Broughton at kbrought@muskegonartmuseum.org or call at (231)  720-2574.