Focus on this artwork and explore the 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. His planned first-floor rotunda panels never got beyond preliminary sketches. Much to the displeasure of some Kansans, and reflecting the views of agronomists at his employer, the Agricultural College of the University of Wisconsin, one panel blamed poor farming practices for the erosion and dust storms of the 1930s.: 124
agronomist University of Wisconsin Kansas Legislature dust storms of the 1930s rotunda Kansas