Label
2024, “In This Place: American Dreams”
When Henry Worrall came to the recently formed state of Kansas in 1868, railroad companies owned much of the land. They employed commercial artists like Worrall to create images of Kansas that would encourage immigrants to settle there. This watercolor presents an idyllic view of the small Kansas town of Sterling, known in the 1870s as Peace. Though storm clouds and the skeletal remains of livestock communicate some of the challenges of frontier life, they are upstaged by a prominent rainbow. Sunlight warms the green field in the foreground and reflects off piles of salt at the town’s new salt works. An exclamation point centered at the bottom is a curious signifier, atypical for paintings of this period.