Tragic Prelude is a mural painted by the American artist John Steuart Curry for the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas. It is located on the east side of the second floor rotunda. On the north wall it depicts the abolitionist John Brown with a Bible in one hand, on which the Greek letters alpha and omega of Revelation 1:8 can be seen.

Curry depicts John Brown’s role in Bleeding Kansas as a “tragic prelude” to the Civil War, with tornadoes and prairie fires in the background representing the coming destruction. Curry did not revere Brown, describing him as a “bloodythirsty, god-fearing maniac.”

Beside his left knee we can make out soldiers violently assaulting a Black family. Curry depicts John Brown’s role in Bleeding Kansas as a “tragic prelude” to the Civil War, with tornadoes and prairie fires in the background representing the coming destruction.

2021年4月5日 · One of America's most famous murals, "Tragic Prelude," by John Steuart Curry, inside the Kansas Capitol, often called the Kansas Statehouse locally, in Topeka. Shawnee County Kansas Topeka United States, 2021. -04-05.

Beside his left knee we can make out soldiers violently assaulting a Black family. Curry depicts John Brown’s role in Bleeding Kansas as a “tragic prelude” to the Civil War, with tornadoes and prairie fires in the background representing the coming destruction.

Tragic Prelude by John Steuart Curry This mural is located in the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. It shows John Brown, an abolitionist, during the time called “Bleeding Kansas.” This mural has many examples of symbolism. Study the painting then match the description with the symbol that Curry used to represent his ideas.

2023年6月9日 · In 1937 a Kansas born artist, John Steuart Curry, was selected to portray the state’s story in murals on the second floor. A centerpiece of the project was titled Tragic Prelude. Here, Curry created an image of John Brown that remains one of the most recognized depictions of the abolitionist in the world.

2021年9月8日 · The image known as Tragic Prelude is not just its most famous component. It is a three-part piece, with one painting depicting Father Padilla and Coronado overlooking the “Kingdom of Quivira,” and another of a plainsman standing in front of a felled buffalo.

The most famous of his finished murals is the one called, "Tragic Prelude," Curry's interpretation of John Brown and the anti-slavery movement in Kansas Territory. Rich in symbolism, the painting depicts a fierce John Brown holding a Bible in one hand and a rifle in the other.

Views of a two panel mural titled Tragic Prelude depicting the abolitionist John Brown on one and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Juan de Padilla and a plainsman on the other, painted by John Steuart Curry. The murals are at the Kansas Capitol. Photographs taken by Larry Colcher and Barry Worley, photographers at the Kansas State Historical Society