Focus on this artwork and analyze the History.
Emporia Gazette editor William Allen White began the campaign to get Curry to paint murals for his native Kansas rather than Wisconsin (whose university offered him employment he could not find in Kansas). Other newspapers joined in, and the result was the Kansas Murals Commission. Chaired by Governor Walter Huxman, it was charged with choosing a Kansas artist or artists to create murals for the Capitol, as Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton had done in the Missouri State Capitol.: 37–39 Benton's very large mural was on the topic of, and titled, A Social History of Missouri. The Commission decided, not without some controversy, that in contrast with the Missouri Capitol, where Benton was one of several artists, Curry would be the sole artist to create murals for the Kansas Capitol, on the theme of Kansas history.: 37–39  No state money was involved; White led a fundraising campaign that easily succeeded in raising the money to hire Curry.: 39 Curry painted Tragic Prelude from 1937 to 1942, using egg tempera and oils. It is 11 feet 4 inches (350 cm) tall, and 31 feet (940 cm) long.
William Allen White egg tempera Missouri State Capitol Emporia Gazette Thomas Hart Benton Walter Huxman Kansas