Threshing in Kansas 1900, Streeter Blair

Artwork Overview

Streeter Blair, Threshing in Kansas 1900
Streeter Blair, Threshing in Kansas 1900
Streeter Blair
Threshing in Kansas 1900
1954
Streeter Blair, artist
1888–1966
Threshing in Kansas 1900, 1954
Where object was made: Kansas, United States
Material/technique: canvas; oil
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 74.9 x 92.7 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 29 1/2 x 36 1/2 in
Credit line: Gift of the artist
Accession number: 1958.0065
Not on display
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Archive Label 1999: Streeter Blair painted Threshing in Kansas, 1900 in California in 1954. When he was 60, Blair began recreating fond memories of his boyhood home, using a rustic painting style that complemented his pastoral subject. Before pursuing art, Blair had several careers, as high school principal, entrepreneur, and antiques dealer. His painting career began when Blair tried to describe a Pennsylvania farm house to a customer but, at a loss for words, painted the scene instead. Impressed with the result, his customer insisted on buying the painting for $25, thus launching Blair's artistic career. Blair's painting supports the image of Kansas as an agricultural paradise untouched by the ills of the modern world. This image contrasts with the more modern image of Kansas in Karl Mattern's painting U.S. 40, also in this show. Ironically, Mattern painted U.S. 40 twenty-three years before Threshing in Kansas, 1900.