Our Good Earth

Our Good Earth

John Steuart Curry

The U.S. Department of the Treasury asked John Steuart Curry to produce a war propaganda poster in 1941 as the country entered World War II. Though many posters used fear to inspire patriotism, Curry believed Americans would be more inspired by a positive image. For the commission, Curry painted Our Good Earth, which features the monumental figure of a white farmer standing in his fields flanked by two children who represent the future. The painting symbolizes the power of American agriculture to feed soldiers fighting to defend the country for future generations. For the poster, the government reproduced the painting with the caption, “Our Good Earth—Keep it Ours,” underscoring both U.S. nationalism and adding an element of threat.
Artist
John Steuart Curry
(American, 1897 – 1946)
Title
Our Good Earth
Date
1942
Medium
Oil on hardboard
Dimensions
60 1/8 x 48 1/8 in. Overall
Credit
Gift of the U.S. Treasury Department to the College of Agriculture to the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Accession No.
3.1999.1
Classification
Paintings
Geography
United States

Related

1943, gifted by the U.S. Treasury Department to the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture [now called the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences]; 1999, deposited as a long-term loan to Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Bell, Michael. "Country Boys: Masculinity and Rural Life." University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2006. cover
  • Tanaka, Masayuki. "American Heroism." Tokyo: The National Museum of Western Art, 2001. no. 40
  • Owings, Frank N., Jr., "Frank Lloyd Wright and Regionalists: Visions for America," Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly Vol. 14 No. 1 (2003): 4-15. pp. 4-15
  • Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The Gloria and Donald B. Marron Collection of American Prints. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1981. p. 143, no. 101
  • Junker, Patricia. "John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West." Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum of Art and New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1998. pp. 70, 145, pl. 63; fig. 16
  • Wisconsin Humanities Council, [Brochure], 2002.
  • Bertels, Alice S. "John Steuart Curry: The Road Home." Overland Park: Leathers Publication, 2006
  • "SchoolsMusuemsART (SMART) Project." Madison, WI: Madison Metropolitan School District, 2002.
  • Seaton, Elizabeth G., Jane Myers, and Gail Windisch, eds. "Art for Every Home: Associated American Artists 1934-2000." Manhattan, Kansas: Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University and Yale University Press, 2015. p. 128, no. 9.4
  • Baker, D. Frederick, "A University Collects: The Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin," in Antiques & Fine Art Magazine (Autumn/Winter 2013) vol. XII, issue 6 :184-193. p. 1, no. 185
  • Weyl, Christina. “Our Good Earth? By Nathan Meltz,” Art in Print, vol. 7, number 5 (January-February, 2018): 50-51. p. 50
  • Eldredge, Charles C. "We Gather Together: American Artists and the Harvest." Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2021. p. 104, fig. 54
  • Lidtke, Thomas D. and Annemarie Sawkins. "A Creative Plate: The History of Wisconsin Art." Cedarburg, WI: Cedarburg Art Museum, 2021. p. 238, fig. 4.72

  • John Steuart Curry: At Home in Wisconsin: Museum of Wisconsin Art, 6/27/2014–9/14/2014
  • American Heroism: National Museum of Western Art, 7/23/2001–10/28/2001
  • John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 3/7/1998–1/3/1999

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