Our Good Earth

John Steuart Curry, born Dunavant, KS 1897-died Madison, WI 1946 · 1942

When Curry was asked to create a monumental image for a war-bond poster during World War II, he depicted a noble American farmer, flanked by two carefree children, standing tall in his Kansas wheat field. The imposing figure emphasizes how important farming was to the war effort. This watercolor is a study for the painting, which was then reproduced as a poster captioned “Our Good Earth – Keep It Ours.”