He was born in Iowa in 1891, and he died in Iowa in 1942. He taught painting at the University of Iowa. So it is not surprising that the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa would have several of Grant Wood's paintings as part of its permanent collection.
Of course, Grant Wood is most famous for his painting American Gothic which hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.
Grant Wood was one of the three founding members of the American realist art movement called Regionalism. Regionalism, to Grant Wood, was a simple concept: artists should paint what is around them, what they know and what they see.
Grant Wood’s paintings show the love he had for his native Iowa...
Iowa Cornfield (1941)
This late study draws attention to the importance of the land in Iowa.
Study for Stone City (1930)
Wood's idyllic scene of a small town nestled amidst a sprawling landscape of hills and valleys shows no sign of the future problems the once thriving boom town would incur at the turn of the century when cement production made the local limestone industry obsolete.
Showing his commitment to Regionalism, Wood cast himself as an Iowa farmer against a backdrop of rolling farmland. The familiar Iowa landmark, the windmill, frames his face. The way he placed himself in the front of this painting shows the influence of Old Flemish Masters whom Wood greatly admired.
For more information on the Figge Art Museum click here.
All photos in this blog post were taken by me during my visit in October, 2013.
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