Understanding Context to Gain Meaning of Vocabulary: Exercise 1

John Steuart Curry is most well known for his oil paintings and murals. One of his most famous
murals is on display at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka, Kansas. Although it is now regarded as a
masterpiece, on a par with works done by peers such as Thomas Hart Benton, while Curry was
working on it, several debates over the content arose, which eventually delayed completion of the
work. One of the disputes surrounding the mural was the representation of John Brown, the
legendary abolitionist who organized a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia in 1859. Objectors of the
painting insisted that the blood on John Brown's hands and the tornado in the background
portrayed Kansas in a negative tone. Though Curry tried to explain his idea, the issue remained
contentious, and the mural was never signed by the artist. John Steuart Curry would continue to
fight to make his point of view understood by many Kansans, as they felt that his paintings were
an embarrassment to the state.

Comentado [R1]: (friend, colleague, etc.)

Comentado [R2]: (sudden attack)

Comentado [R3]: (subject: disputed)

Understanding Context to Gain Meaning of Vocabulary: Exercise 2

1.-In 1935, Wood published a pamphlet entitled: "Revolt Against the City," in which he stated that
the allure of large cities was gone, and that they were "ulcers on the body politic."

Comentado [R4]: Brochure

2.-Wood's most famous work, American Gothic, depicting a farmer and his unmarried daughter
standing in front of a farmhouse, was an immediate success when it was first exhibited at the Art
Institute of Chicago in 1930, and has become an iconic image in American culture.

Comentado [R6]: (create a representation)

3.-When he returned to New York in the 1920s, Benton's penchant toward a more naturalistic and
representational style led him to eventually leave city life for his home state of Missouri, and to
proclaim himself an "enemy of modernism."

Comentado [R8]: predisposition (strong liking)

Comentado [R5]: attraction

Comentado [R7]: symbolic

4.-Although it is now regarded as a masterpiece, on a par with works done by contemporaries such
as Thomas Hart Benton, while Curry was working on it, several debates over the subject matter
arose, which inevitably delayed completion of the work.

Comentado [R9]: emerged

5.-Opponents of the painting insisted that the blood on John Brown's hands and the tornado in the
background portrayed Kansas in a negative light. Though Curry tried to explain his vision, the issue
remained contentious, and the mural was never signed by the artist.

Comentado [R10]: disputed