Kansas Farming

Year1936

Classification painting

Medium oil on canvas

DimensionsImage/Canvas: 55 x 125 1/2 in. (139.7 x 318.8 cm)

Credits Commissioned through the Section of Fine Arts, 1934 - 1943
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration

Kansas Farming by Richard Haines depicts various aspects of rural life and farm production. The scene focuses on the importance of urbanization, industrialization, and technology to the economic growth of the region. Rolling hills ripe with the bounty of the fall harvest form an idealized rural landscape. Tall corn and sunflower plants frame the center panel of the canvas, in which a farmer on horseback visits his neighbors. Nearby, a young girl holds mail in both hands as the boy waves to an unseen mail plane. A farmer feeds corn to his hogs and looks toward a group of produce packers on the left side of the canvas. In the distant background, a small town with a railroad depot and a grain elevator represent industry's growing role in agricultural production.