Tragic Prelude


Tragic Prelude is a mural painted by Kansan John Steuart Curry for the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas. It depicts abolitionist Kansan John Brown with a Bible in one hand, on which the alpha and omega of Apocalypsis can be seen. In his other hand he holds a rifle or "Beecher's Bible", in front of Union and Confederate troops, with a whirlwind approaching. The "tragic prelude" is the Bleeding Kansas period of 1854–1860, prelude to or dress rehearsal for the Civil War, which John Brown was at the center of, preventing Kansas from being made a slave state.
However, the mural has other figures in addition to Brown, as it turns a corner and continues on another wall. The three figures are rarely discussed as part of the work. The one most mentioned is the one on the left, The Plainsman.
It is Curry's most famous work, the only work of his to have a book devoted to it.

History

Inspired by A Social History of Missouri, a recent series of murals for the Missouri State Capitol by Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton, the Kansas Legislature commissioned the Kansan Curry to create a similar series for the Kansas State Capitol. Tragic Prelude was completed in 1937, using egg tempera and oil paint. It is 11 feet 4 inches tall, and 31 feet long.

Curry's description

In a newspaper interview of 1939, he explained that "I wanted to paint him as a fanatic, for John Brown was a fanatic. He had the wild zeal of the extremist, the fanatic for his cause—and we had the Civil War, with its untold misery." Later, he wrote in a letter: "I think he is the prototype of a great many Kansans. Someone described a Kansan as one who went about wreaking good on humanity. This might be the kernel of my conception."

Rejection of ''Tragic Prelude''

The Kansas Legislature rejected the mural, and refused to hang it in the Capitol as planned. Curry left Kansas in disgust, abandoning the rest of his Capitol project, and did not sign this or the other completed work, Kansas Pastoral, because he considered the project incomplete. It was hung in the Capitol after his death.

Archival material

A study for the mural is in the Spencer Museum.

In popular culture

The image was used as the album cover of Kansas, the debut album of the rock band Kansas.