artist, b. near Dunavant, Kans. His early years on a Kansas farm where he was "raised on hard work and the shorter catechism," profoundly influenced his life and career. He began his interest in art at the age of 12 and, after years of study in America and abroad, gained his first triumph when the Whitney Club Studio exhibited his paintings in 1930. Thereafter he was recognized as a leader in the regional school of American art. In 1936 he was appointed artist in residence at the Univ. of Wisconsin. The years following proved highly productive for, under the terms of his appointment, he was unrestricted and free to paint and travel as he chose. Thus, some of his finest work was accomplished, including one of his greatest triumphs, The Tragic Prelude, a mural in the Kansas State Capitol at Topeka. Although he was not primarily concerned with teaching, Curry encouraged and aided rural artists throughout Wisconsin and in 1940 inaugurated a successful annual state-wide exhibition of rural art. L. E. Schmeckebier, Curry's Pageant of Amer. (New York, 1943); Milwaukee Journal, Jan. 10, 1937; Madison Wis. State journal, fan. 7-11, 1938, Aug. 30, 1946; Life, Mar. 31, 1941; Time, Dec. 24, 1934.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]