The Bathers (1928)
John Steuart Curry
“John Steuart Curry’s The Bathers depicts nude farmers and farm boys cavorting in and around a cattle tank after another day of hard work. As the common meeting place for different ages of men, the tank serves as a visual metaphor for life itself, into which the two pre-pubescent boys have only begun to dive and through which the older, wiser farmer looking on at left has already passed. While youth and maturity occupy the margins of manly experience, the young men romping at right are immersed in it fully, a suggestion that they enjoy, however unconsciously, the prime of their lives. Curry elevated his mundane subject matter by adopting certain aspects of Italian Renaissance art, including the balanced composition and carefully modeled figures.
The Bathers is one of a group of paintings in which Curry examined farm life in his native Kansas. His interest in rural subjects was shared by Thomas Hart Benton from Missouri and Grant Wood from Iowa, with whom he became identified in the 1930s as leaders of the regionalist movement, part of a larger revolt against the perceived inordinate influence of European modern art on American culture.”
Maverick Mist 
Buona domenica ๐
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Grazie. Spero che tu abbia avuto una buona domenica, amica mia. ๐
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Thank you for introducing us to this strong painting, telling a story from life.
miriam
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Thank you for your lovely comment Miriam. ๐
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Love the painting and knowing the symbolism adds another layer of enjoyment but there is no way on earth I would have picked up on that just walking through the museum.
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Me neither, the gallery labels are a big help. ๐
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Thank you for highlighting and sharing information about this very lively painting which allows us to peek into this very different world. The colours are wonderful!
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I’m glad you liked, thank you. ๐
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I can imagine the wonderful feeling of diving into this cool water after a hard days work in the sun! Lovely pic Maverick.
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Yeah, a hot summer day when the hay is sticking to your sweat. I’ve done this when young at my grandparents farm but with just me and the cows. ๐
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I can relate to this too, my grandparents farm was not far from the river. It was really a treat on hot summer days ๐
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Lovely painting and the story behind it.
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Thank you Eugenia. ๐
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๐
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Such a great metaphor for this painting, the circle of life. The color of the water just draws you right in.
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I agree, thank you. ๐
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