Image Source: https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/our-good-earth-58156
Our Good Earth (1942) – John Steuart Curry
The painting, Our Good Earth by John Steuart Curry reflects the importance of farming in America. The main focus in the painting is the farmer with his children standing in a wheat field that dominates the foreground. Looking back, we can see that the wheat field fills the entirety of the land within the space of the painting. Along the horizon there is a farm that is just barely visible. The minuscule size of the farm compared to the other elements of the work show just how large and expansive the wheat field in which the farmer is standing is. As the one farm in the background is the only man-made structure that can be seen in the image, it is likely that the entire field is all one farm. That one single farm would be that large shows how important farming was in America because of the amount of space that was dedicated solely to farming. Another feature that showcases the importance of farming is the size of the farmer. The figure of the farmer dominates close to half of the image. The prominence that the farmer is given reflects the importance of the role of the farmer in American society at the time.
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