It’s an iconic image, painted by one of Kansas’ favorite sons.

A well-muscled farmer stands in a an ocean of wheat, clutching a few stalks in his hand. Behind him, a couple of wind-blown children play against the backdrop of a cloudy sky.

The work by John Steuart Curry is so well-known that the Kansas Commemorative Coin Design Committee made it one of five nominees to represent the state on the “Kansas Quarter” to be unveiled in 2005.

And in a Journal-World online poll, it’s the favorite of the five nominees.

But there’s one problem: It may be a scene from Wisconsin.

“It’s a possibility,” said Charles Eldredge, a distinguished professor of art history at Kansas University. “As to whether it’s a Kansas wheat field or a Wisconsin wheat field, I couldn’t possibly tell you.”

Mistaken identity

This much is known with certainty: Curry, a native Kansan born in Jefferson County, painted “Our Good Earth” in the early 1940s while living in Wisconsin. The painting, which was then used for a World War II propaganda poster exhorting farmers to support the war effort, is in the collection of the University of Wisconsin.

And that discovery throws the coin nomination in doubt.

The 1940s painting Our

“We want something that’s definitely Kansas and portrays the qualities of our state,” said State Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, vice-chairwoman of the coin committee. “If that painting was depicting Wisconsin, I don’t think it would be appropriate for the Kansas coin.”

The committee received 1,200 nominations, all narratives describing the image that should be on the Kansas Quarter.

Schodorf said at least some committee members believed the Curry painting described in the nomination — a farmer and two children in a wheat field — was part of his mural work at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka.

“The narrative said it was in the Capitol,” Schodorf said. But she added: “I never went down and looked at it.”

In fact, Curry did paint an agriculture scene in the Statehouse. But that work on the second floor of the building’s west wing, “Kansas Pastoral,” features a farmer standing with livestock, with his wife and children featured on the opposite wall. There is no wheat in that painting.

Which of the following should be placed on the back of the Kansas quarter? A circle with sunflowers on one side, a buffalo head on the other and, in the middle, the Ad Astra sculpture that sits atop the state Capitol. An outlined map of Kansas, adorned with the state Capitol, sunflowers, a buffalo, an American Indian and wheat. A sunflower with a banner across it proclaiming, “There’s no place like home.” Symbols of wheat, buffalo and sunflowers. The well-known mural in the Capitol painted by Kansan John Steuart Curry in the 1940s featuring a farmer in overalls standing in a sea of wheat with two children. Sunflowers, rolling hills and an airplane (alternate). None of the above. ¢See the results »Note: This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

Symbolic, allegorical

Art experts say they don’t know if Curry was thinking of Kansas or Wisconsin when he painted “Our Good Earth.”

“Memories of his rural (Kansas) upbringing certainly formed his work,” Eldredge said.

Susan Earle, who manages the American and European art collection at KU’s Spencer Museum of Art, said the scene was probably not intended to represent a specific locale.

“It’s more allegorical and symbolic,” Earle said. “A lot of his work is clearly tied to the Kansas landscape, and some of it to the Wisconsin landscape.”

Russell Panczenko, director of the Elvehjem Museum of Art in Madison, Wis., said he didn’t know which state is depicted in the painting.

“It was painted here in Wisconsin,” Panczenko said. “I don’t know that it was supposed to be of Wisconsin.”

Because of the uncertainty, Earle said another Curry painting would probably make a better nomination for the coin.

“It would be better to use some of Curry’s landscapes that are specifically of Kansas,” she said. “If they were asking my opinion, I would choose a work that is more distinctly representative of Kansas.”

Wisconsin pride

Quarter design finalists submitted to Mint (11-19-03)Curry’s Statehouse Studies

Eldredge said he wouldn’t mind if the painting were on the Kansas quarter.

“It wouldn’t trouble me,” he said. “It’s a fine painting by a fine artist with strong connections to Kansas.”

Rep. Deena Horst, R-Salina, was chairwoman of the coin committee. She said the committee may get another chance to look at the nominations.

“Had we known it was something that was painted in Wisconsin,” said Horst, a middle school art teacher, “we might well have not considered it.”

Certainly, there’s lot of pride about the painting in Wisconsin.

“It’s an important piece, there’s no question about that,” Panczenko said. “It’s as good as Curry gets as an artist.”