An artist named John Steuart Curry loved to paint pictures.Painting was his business.He also loved the circus.The circus was his hobby.So，for a while，he combined the two.He joined the circus and traveled with it so he could paint pictures of it.He painted pictures of the acrobats，trapeze performers，elephants，and equestriennes.
No.90-1THE TORNADO（《龙卷风》）CURRY（柯里作）Courtesy of The Hackley Art Gallery，Muskegon，MichiganJohn Steuart Curry was born in Kansas.Besides circus pictures he painted many pictures of Kansas，especially of farm life in Kansas.The first picture in this chapter shows a tornado in Kansas.Many people have never seen a tornado，but in parts of Kansas tornadoes happen so often that people build storm cellars where they can go to be safe from these powerful whirlwinds.The foreground of Curry’s tornado painting shows a farmer and his family hurrying into their storm cellar.It’s an exciting picture.Will the tornado hit the farm house and tear it to pieces？Will the family be safe？Will their barns be destroyed？Will the tornado ruin their crops？
John Steuart Curry’s pictures are modern paintings，but they are not at all like the modern art that you read about in the last chapter.Modern art includes many kinds of paintings.Painters keep trying new ways of painting and it’s a good thing they do.If artists always painted the way artists painted in the past their paintings would get tiresome.Non-objective and non-realistic paintings were new ways of painting when they were started.But they aren’t the only kinds of modern art.In this chapter all the paintings are modern but you can tell easily that they are not like non-objective，or non-realistic，or surrealistic paintings.
No.90-2THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL REVERE（《午夜纵马飞奔的保罗·列维尔》）WOOD（伍德作）
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art“The Tornado”is a modern painting of a modern scene.“The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”by Grant Wood is a modern painting of a scene in the past.This picture has the same title as the famous poem by Longfellow.It shows Paul Revere galloping on hishorse through a New England village to warn the people that the redcoats are coming.Bright moonlight makes it easy to see the village church，the houses，the trees，the road，and the swiftly moving horse and rider.Lights are being lit in the houses Paul Revere has passed.Minute men carrying muskets will soon be marching from the village to the battle that began the war of independence.
No.90-3HUCK FINN AND JIM（哈克·费恩和吉姆）Part of the Thomas Hart Benton murals in the capitol building，Jefferson City，Missouri（托马斯·哈特·本顿作密苏里州杰斐逊市市政大厅的部分壁画）Massie—Missouri Resources Div.
Not all of Grant Wood’s paintings are of exciting events.One very famous painting he called “American Gothic.”It shows an elderly Iowa farmer and his wife looking straight out from the picture.Behind them is a wooden house with the Gothic-style trimmings that some American houses still have.The man and woman look like serious，honest，kindly，hard-working people.How do I know they are Iowa people？Because Grant Wood’s home was in Iowa and he liked to paint pictures of his own state.
Both Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry were from the great middle western part of the United States.A third famous painter from central United States is Thomas Hart Benton.He painted pictures of his native state of Missouri.Many of his paintings are large murals on the walls of public buildings.“Huck Finn and Jim”is one of these large paintings.Mark Twain’s book Huckleberry Finn tells of Huck’s trip down the Mississippi on a raft with his friend Jim，who was escaping from slavery.The picture shows them on their raft.It’s a good picture to remember when you read the book.
Another modern painter is Edward Hopper.His pictures are mostly of the eastern part of the United States.“New York Movie，”however，might fit a large movie theater in any large city.It shows the inside of a movie theater with a girl usher standing near the stairway of the balcony.It is an unusual subject for a painting.For one thing it’s generally pretty dark in a movie theater.For another thing movie theaters are often not subjects to inspire a painter by their beauty.But in spite of these handicaps the painting turned out to be a very good one because of the skill of the artist.
No.90-4NEW YORK MOVIE（《纽约电影》）（霍普作）One of the differences between many modern artists and artists of the past is that artists now so often paint common，everyday subjects；people and places that are familiar to all of us.In Renaissance times and for long afterwards most of the subjects chosen by painters were important people，kings and queens，lords and ladies；or they were gods and goddesses，or religious subjects，or beautiful scenery.Very seldom did the ordinary，unimportant people and scenes get painted.A few painters like the Breughels in Flanders，Hogarth in England，Millet in France，did paint the people that most artists found uninteresting.But now most artists paint people and scenes that are part of the familiar life of their countries.
Edward Hopper also painted “Ground Swell”which is just as different as can be from “New York Movie.”Instead of a dark indoor scene in a huge city，it is a picture of waves and sunshine and the outdoor fun of sailing a boat.