Hogs Killing a Snake

Along with Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry attained significant fame as one of the three most important Regionalist painters of the 1930s. In 1941 Wood wrote about Curry: “It was action he loved most to interpret: the lunge through space, the split second before the kill, the suspended moment before the storm strikes.” Hogs Killing a Snake reveals his fascination with the violence of nature and the struggle for survival. Curry deliberately constructed the dynamic composition to heighten the vitality of his subject; the hogs converge from all angles upon the writhing snake, giving a sense of violent motion. Curry accentuated the vigor of the composition with his painting technique, using short, choppy brushstrokes and even scratching on the surface of the paint to suggest the bristling hair on the hogs’ backs. Although the subject was ostensibly drawn from a childhood experience, the painting transcends mere realism to become nearly epic.