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Prairie Fire near Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, 1997
Artist
Larry W. Schwarm
(United States, born 1944)
Date1997
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsIMAGE: 27 x 27 in. (685.8 x 685.8 mm)
Object TypePhotographs
Credit LineKSU, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Friends of the Beach Museum of Art annual reception purchase
Edition6/25
Object number2001.67
On View
Not on view• Schwarm photographed the burning of the tallgrass prairie in his native state over a twelve-year period. This photograph was part of a project that won Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in 2003. The prize enabled Schwarm to publish the book On Fire.
• Prairie fires help maintain the ecology of the Flint Hills by preventing the growth of brush and trees. Intentional burning began with Native Americans. They used fire to generate nutritious new growth of grasses to attract bison. Today’s cattle ranchers conduct prescribed burnings for the same reason.
• Writing about Schwarm’s photographs of the Flint Hills, author Robert Adams noted: “The prairie has often been compared to a seascape made of earth and air. Schwarm’s pictures add to that the missing fourth element, helping us to understand.”
• Prairie fires help maintain the ecology of the Flint Hills by preventing the growth of brush and trees. Intentional burning began with Native Americans. They used fire to generate nutritious new growth of grasses to attract bison. Today’s cattle ranchers conduct prescribed burnings for the same reason.
• Writing about Schwarm’s photographs of the Flint Hills, author Robert Adams noted: “The prairie has often been compared to a seascape made of earth and air. Schwarm’s pictures add to that the missing fourth element, helping us to understand.”
Exhibitions
