Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. He is particularly well known for '' American Gothic'' (1930), which has become an iconic example of early 20th-century

American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

Early life

Wood was born in rural

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, 4 mi (6 km) east of Anamosa, in 1891, the son of Hattie DeEtte ''Weaver'' Wood and Francis Maryville Wood. His mother moved the family to

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

after his father died in 1901. Soon thereafter, Wood began as an apprentice in a local metal shop. After graduating from Washington High School, Wood enrolled in The Handicraft Guild, an art school run entirely by women in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

in 1910. In 1913, he enrolled at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

and performed some work as a

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary great ...

Career

Close to the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Wood joined the US military, working as an artist designing camouflage scenes as well as other art. From 1919 to 1925, Wood taught art to junior high school students in the Cedar Rapids public school system. This employment provided financial stability and its seasonal nature allowed him summer trips to Europe to study art. In addition, he took a leave of absence for the 1923-1924 school year so he could spend an entire year studying in Europe. From 1922 to 1935, Wood lived with his mother in the loft of a carriage house in

, which he turned into his personal studio at "5 Turner Alley" (the studio had no address until Wood made one up). From 1922 to 1928, Wood made four trips to Europe, where he studied many styles of painting, especially

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and

post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

. However, it was the work of the 15th-century Flemish artist

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...

that influenced him to take on the clarity of this technique and to incorporate it in his new works. In addition, his 1928 trip to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

was to oversee the making of the

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows he had designed for a Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids. In 1932, Wood helped found the

Stone City Art Colony The Stone City Art Colony was an art colony founded by Edward Rowan, Adrian Dornbush, and Grant Wood. The colony gathered on the John A. Green Estate in Stone City, Iowa during the summers of 1932 and 1933. History The colony was started ...

near his hometown to help artists get through the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. He became a great proponent of regionalism in the arts, lecturing throughout the country on the topic. As his classically American image was solidified, his bohemian days in Paris were expunged from his public persona.Maslin, Janet (October 3, 2010).
Behind That Humble Pitchfork, a Complex Artist
(review of R. Tripp Evans, ''Grant Wood: A Life''). ''The New York Times''. Retrieved May 26, 2018. From 1934 to 1941 Wood taught painting at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

School of Art An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

. During that time, he supervised mural painting projects, mentored students, produced a variety of his own works, and became a key part of the University's cultural community.

Personal life

From 1935 to 1938, Wood was married to Sara Sherman Maxon. Friends considered the marriage a mistake for Wood. It is thought that Wood was a

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and human ...

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

, and that there was an attempt on the part of a senior colleague, Lester Longman, to get him fired both on moral grounds and for his advocacy of regionalism. Critic

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

states that his friends knew him to be "homosexual and a bit facetious in his masquerade as an

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

-clad farm boy." University administration dismissed the allegations and Wood would have returned as professor if not for his growing health problems. The-first-three-degrees-of-freemasonry-grant-wood

The-first-three-degrees-of-freemasonry-grant-wood

Wood was an avid

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and Member of Mount Hermon Lodge #263 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After receiving his 3rd Degree of Master Mason he painted The First Three Degrees of Freemasonry in 1921. Freemasonry influenced multiple pieces of work by Grant Wood in his life, and furthered his moral and ethical beliefs.

Death and legacy

On the eve of his 51st birthday, Wood died at

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

university hospital of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery,

Anamosa, Iowa Anamosa is a city in Jones County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,450 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jones County. History What is now Anamosa was founded as the settlement of Buffalo Forks in 1838 and incorporated as ...

1980_Grant_Wood_One-Ounce_Gold_Medal_(obv)

When Wood died, his estate went to his sister,

Nan Wood Graham Nan Wood Graham (July 26, 1899 – December 14, 1990) was an American artist and art teacher. She was the sister of painter Grant Wood. She is best known as the model for the woman in her brother's most famous painting, ''American Gothic'' ...

, the woman portrayed in '' American Gothic''. When she died in 1990, her estate, along with Wood's personal effects and various works of art, became the property of the

Figge Art Museum The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region. The Figge works closely with sever ...

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

. The

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

was named in his honor. In 2009, Grant was awarded the Iowa Prize, the state's highest citizen honor. Grant Wood Area Education Agency, one of Iowa's nine regional Area Education Agencies established in 1974, which is serving Eastern Iowa, was named after Grant Wood.

Work

Wood was an active painter from an extremely young age until his death, and although he is best known for his paintings, he worked in a large number of media, including

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thicker ...

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

and found objects. Iowa quarter, reverse side, 2004

Throughout his life, he hired out his talents to many Iowa-based businesses as a steady source of income. This included painting advertisements, sketching rooms of a mortuary house for promotional flyers and, in one case, designing the corn-themed décor (including

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

) for the dining room of a hotel.

Regionalism

Wood is associated with the American movement of Regionalism, which was primarily situated in the Midwest, and advanced figurative painting of rural American themes in an aggressive rejection of European abstraction. Wood was one of three artists most associated with the movement. The others,

John Steuart Curry John Steuart Curry (November 14, 1897 – August 29, 1946) was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart B ...

and Thomas Hart Benton, returned to the Midwest in the 1930s due to Wood's encouragement and assistance with locating teaching positions for them at colleges in Wisconsin and Missouri, respectively. Along with Benton, Curry, and other Regionalist artists, Wood's work was marketed through

Associated American Artists Associated American Artists (AAA) was an art gallery in New York City that was established in 1934 and ceased operation in 2000. The gallery marketed art to the middle and upper-middle classes, first in the form of affordable prints and later in ...

in New York for many years. Wood is considered the patron artist of Cedar Rapids, and his childhood country school is depicted on the 2004 Iowa State Quarter.

''American Gothic''

Wood's best known work is his 1930 painting ''American Gothic'', which is also one of the most famous paintings in American art, and one of the few images to reach the status of widely recognized cultural icon, comparable to

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...

'' and

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, ''The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dr ...

's ''

The Scream ''The Scream'' is a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images of art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition. Munch's work, including ...

''.Fineman, Mia
The Most Famous Farm Couple in the World: Why American Gothic still fascinates.
''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'', June 8, 2005 ''American Gothic'' was first exhibited in 1930 at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, where it is still located. It was given a $300 prize and made news stories country-wide, bringing Wood immediate recognition. Since then, it has been borrowed and satirized endlessly"Grant Wood"
,

. Retrieved December 14, 2008. for advertisements and cartoons.Kendall, Sue M., "Wood, Grant", Oxford Art Online (subscription). Retrieved December 14, 2008. Art critics who had favorable opinions about the painting, such as

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

and

Christopher Morley Christopher Darlington Morley (May 5, 1890 – March 28, 1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.''Online Literature'' Biography Morley was bo ...

, assumed the painting was meant to be a satire of repression and narrow-mindedness of rural small-town life. It was seen as part of the trend toward increasingly critical depictions of rural America, along the lines of such novels as

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

's ''1919

Winesburg, Ohio ''Winesburg, Ohio'' (full title: ''Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life'') is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the ...

'',

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

's 1920 '' Main Street'', and Carl Van Vechten's ''The Tattooed Countess''. Wood rejected this reading of it. With the onset of the

, it came to be seen as a depiction of steadfast American pioneer spirit. Another reading is that it is an ambiguous fusion of reverence and parody. Wood's inspiration came from Eldon, southern Iowa, where a cottage designed in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style with an upper window in the shape of a medieval pointed arch provided the background and also the painting's title. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house." The painting shows a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter, figures modeled by the artist's sister, Nan (1900–1990), and his dentist. Wood's sister insisted that the painting depicts the farmer's daughter and not wife, disliking suggestions it was the farmer's wife, since that would mean that she looks older than Wood's sister preferred to think of herself. The dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950), was from Cedar Rapids. The woman is dressed in a dark print apron mimicking 19th-century

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

with a cameo brooch. The couple are in the traditional roles of men and women, the man's

pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

symbolizing hard labor. The compositional severity and detailed technique derive from

Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe. Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renais ...

paintings, which Grant had looked at during three visits to Europe; after this he became increasingly aware of the Midwest's own legacy, which also informs the work. It is a key image of Regionalism. Wood was hired in 1940, along with eight other prominent American artists, to document and interpret dramatic scenes and characters during the production of the film ''

The Long Voyage Home ''The Long Voyage Home'' is a 1940 American drama film directed by John Ford. It stars John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell and Ian Hunter. It features Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson, John Qualen, Mildred Natwick, and Ward Bond, among others. The f ...

'', a cinematic adaptation of

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

's plays."Cover Article, American Artist Magazine, September, 1940, pp. 4-14"
/ref>

Gallery

File:Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.jpg, '' The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere'', 1931,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Daughters of Revolution.jpg, '' Daughters of Revolution'', 1932,

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

File:Parson Weems' Fable.jpg, ''Parson Weems' Fable'', 1939,

Amon Carter Museum Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Momonym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah Given name * Amon G. Carter (1879–1955), American pu ...

File:'Sentimental Ballad' by Grant Wood, 1940.jpg, ''

Sentimental Ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

'', 1940,

New Britain Museum The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art. A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 20 ...

File:'January' by Grant Wood, 1940-41, Cleveland Museum of Art.JPG, ''January'', 1940–41,

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

List of works

Paintings

*''Spotted Man'' (1924) * Grant Wood - Fall Plowing

''The Little Chapel Chancelade'' (1926) *''Woman with Plants'' (1929) *'' American Gothic'' (1930) *'' Arnold Comes of Age'' (1930) *''

Stone City, Iowa Stone City is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Jones County, Iowa, Jones County, Iowa, United States. Stone City began as a company town for the workers of the local quarries. Stone City is known f ...

'' (1930) *'' /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Grant_Wood_appraisal.jpg Appraisal' (1931) *''Young Corn'' (1931) *''

Fall Plowing ''Fall Plowing'' is a 1931 oil painting by Grant Wood depicting a plowed field in his home state of Iowa. It pays homage to the recently developed walking plough and steel plowshare commonly used by farmers in the Midwestern United States during t ...

'' (1931) *''The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa'' (1931) *'' The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere'' (1931) *''Plaid Sweater'' (1931) *'' /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Grant_Wood.jpg Self-Portrait' (1932) *''Arbor Day'' (1932) *''Boy Milking Cow'' (1932) *'' Daughters of Revolution'' (1932) *''Portrait of Nan'' (1933) *'' /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Nearsundown_wood.jpg Near Sundown' (1933) *''Dinner for Threshers'' (1934) *''Return from Bohemia'' (1935) *''Death on Ridge Road'' (1935) *''Spring Turning'' (1936) *''Seedtime and Harvest'' (1937) *''Sultry Night'' (1937) *''Haying'' (1939) *''New Road'' (1939) *'' /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Parson_Weems%27_Fable.jpg Parson Weems' Fable' (1939) *'' /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/%27January%27_by_Grant_Wood%2C_1940-41%2C_Cleveland_Museum_of_Art.JPG January' (1940) *'' /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Iowacornfield_wood.jpg Iowa Cornfield' (1941) *''Spring in the Country'' (1941)

Writing

* Wood, Grant. "Art in the Daily Life of the Child." ''Rural America'', March 1940, 7–9. * ''Revolt against the City''. Iowa City: Clio Press, 1935.

References

Sources

* Corn, Wanda M. ''Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision''. New Haven: Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Yale University Press, 1983. * Crowe, David. "Illustration as Interpretation: Grant Wood's 'New Deal' Reading of Sinclair Lewis's ''Main Street''." In ''Sinclair Lewis at 100: Papers Presented at a Centennial Conference'', edited by Michael Connaughton, 95–111. St. Cloud, MN: St. Cloud State University, 1985. * Czestochowski, Joseph S. ''John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood: A Portrait of Rural America''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press and Cedar Rapids Art Association, 1981. * DeLong, Lea Rosson. ''Grant Wood's Main Street: Art, Literature and the American Midwest''. Ames: Exhibition catalog from the Brunnier Art Museum at Iowa State University, 2004. * ''When Tillage Begins, Other Arts Follow: Grant Wood and Christian Petersen Murals''. Ames: Exhibition catalog from the Brunnier Art Museum at Iowa State University, 2006. * Dennis, James M. ''Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture''. New York: Viking Press, 1975. * ''Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. * Evans, R. Tripp. ''Grant Wood Life'. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010 . * Graham, Nan Wood, John Zug, and Julie Jensen McDonald. ''My Brother, Grant Wood''. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1993. * Green, Edwin B. ''A Grant Wood Sampler'', January Issue of the Palimpsest. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1972. * Haven, Janet
"Going Back to Iowa: The World of Grant Wood"
MA project in conjunction with the Museum for American Studies of the American Studies Program at the University of Virginia, 1998; includes list of paintings and gallery. * Hoving, Thomas. ''American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece''. New York: Chamberlain Brothers, 2005. * Milosch, Jane C., ed. ''Grant Wood’s Studio: Birthplace of American Gothic''. Cedar Rapids and New York: Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and Prestel, 2005. * Seery, John E. "Grant Wood's Political Gothic." ''Theory & Event'' 2, no. 1 (1998). * Taylor, Sue. "Grant Wood's Family Album." ''American Art'' 19, no. 2 (2005): 48–67.

External links

Grant Wood scrapbooks
at the Iowa Digital Library

Grant Wood Gallery at MuseumSyndicate

at

The Ned Scott Archive Ned Scott (April 16, 1907 – November 24, 1964) was an American photographer who worked in the Hollywood film industry as a still photographer from 1935–1948. As a member of the Camera Club of New York from 1930–34, he was heavily influe ...

"Grant Woods Murals in the Parks Library at Iowa State University"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Grant Grant Wood, 1891 births 1942 deaths School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Académie Julian alumni 20th-century American painters 20th-century male artists American male painters University of Iowa faculty Painters from Iowa Artists from Cedar Rapids, Iowa People from Anamosa, Iowa Artists from Park Ridge, Illinois American portrait painters 20th-century American printmakers Deaths from cancer in Iowa Deaths from pancreatic cancer Burials in Iowa American Freemasons Public Works of Art Project artists