Ajax

John Steuart Curry, Ajax, 1936-37, oil on canvas, 36 ¹⁄₄ x 48 ¹⁄₄ in. (92 x 122.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Peter and Paula Lunder, 2001.95

Free to use

Artwork Details

Title: Ajax
Artist: John Steuart Curry
Date: 1936-37
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
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Luce Foundation Center
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4th Floor
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34A
Dimensions: 36 ¹⁄₄ x 48 ¹⁄₄ in. (92 x 122.5 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Peter and Paula Lunder
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Landscape — farm
Animal — cattle
Animal — portrait — Ajax
Object Number: 2001.95
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2001.95

Artwork Description

Curry created this painting of green pastures and fat cattle to reassure Americans worn down by the Dust Bowl years. A prize bull fills the canvas, grazing contentedly in meadows that fall away on all sides. Cowbirds light daintily on his back, feeding on the insects that would otherwise torment him. This image slyly evokes the myth of Ajax, the Trojan hero who went mad and slew all of his army’s cattle, thinking they were his enemies. Curry's Ajax stands between the viewer and the herd, his one wary eye suggesting that the cows might get their revenge.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006