WHITNEY

GRANTWOODFLOOR 5

ACTIVITY GUIDE

Until he was almost forty years old, Grant Wood was a relatively unknown painter in Iowa, where he’d grown up. He’d gone to Paris, France several times to study painting, but when he came home from his third trip, he decided that his subjects would be “my neighbors in Cedar Rapids, their clothes, their homes, the patterns on their tablecloths and curtains, the tools they use. I suddenly saw all this commonplace stuff as material for art. Wonderful material!” Wood’s paintings depict an idealized image of the midwest that was seen as part of the national character and American identity during the Great Depression. In 1930, his painting American Gothic made him one of the most famous artists in the country.

This Whitney Kids activity guide is designed to introduce you to Wood’s art, and we hope it will inspire the artist in you too! Use this guide to explore the exhibition and experiment with your own ideas.

While you’re here, don’t miss Zoe Leonard’s work, also on view on Floor 5!

Join UsCheck out our lineup of tours, drop-in programs, artmaking workshops, and artist-led programs at whitney.org/Families.

WELCOME

Lilies of the Alley, 1925Using found materials such as bottle caps, gears, and clothespins, Wood created these unusual potted plants, which he gave to friends. What additional everyday objects can you find in these flowers? The title of this sculpture and three others like it plays on the name of a real plant, “lily of the valley.” It is also a pun on his own home and studio address, where he made these plants—5 Turner Alley.

STRANGE PLANTS

Create an unusual plant of your own. Draw unexpected shapes for the leaves and flowers, include one of the objects that Wood used, or add other everyday objects.

Van Antwerp Place, 1922–23Wood visited Paris three times from 1920 to 1928 to study the work of the French Impressionist artists. He used loose brushwork like theirs to paint what he later called “Europy-looking” subjects. Look closely at this painting. Notice the light and shadows. What is your eye drawn to?

SCENIC VIEW Draw what you might see beyond the edges of this painting. Use the artwork in the drawing box for clues.

Draw a portrait of the people who you imagine might live in this house today. What would they be wearing? What objects would they hold?

American Gothic, 1930In 1930, on a visit to the city of Eldon in southwest Iowa, Wood saw a simple frame house with a large upstairs window that mimicked the tall, pointedwindows on medieval Gothic cathedrals. Wood painted the house, placing a farmer and his daughter in the foreground. The artist’s sister and his dentist were the models! He said: “I imagined American Gothic people with their faces stretched out long to go with this American Gothic house.”

AMERICAN PORTRAIT

Draw your own story about something naughty that you’ve done. Did you tell your parents . . . or not?!

Parson Weems’ Fable, 1939Have you heard the story about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree when he was a boy? This painting shows Washington confessing to his father. Wood portrayed the storyteller on the right, lifting a curtain to reveal the scene. Look closely at this painting. Do you notice anything weird about young Washington’s head?

TELL THE TALE

LEGENDARY RIDE

Imagine you are riding the horse through this town at night. Write a few words that describe your ride.

Arrange your words to create a short poem.

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931In this painting, Wood depicted the legend of Paul Revere, riding a horse through a town square in Massachusetts in 1775 to warn the Americans of a British invasion. Wood borrowed a child’s rocking horse to use as a model for Revere’s horse. Notice how the viewpoint from above and the eerie light create a dreamlike atmosphere. How would you describe the mood of this painting?

INSPIRATION

Boy Milking Cow, 1932This painting and the two nearby are from a series of seven farm murals called the Fruits of Iowa. The murals were commissioned by Eugene C. Eppley for a coffee shop at his hotel in Cedar Rapids. Wood once said that “all the really good ideas I’d ever had come to me while I was milking a cow.” Wood probably didn’t milk any cows, but he meant that he found inspiration in what he saw around him in Iowa. Where do you find inspiration?

Draw or write what you think this boy might be thinking about while he is milking the cow.

Draw two patterns, two shapes, and two other details that catch your eye in this painting.VISUAL

WORKOUT

Stone City, 1930Wood painted this aerial view of Stone City in northeastern Iowa using stylized shapes and patterns that give all parts of the composition equal weight. How do your eyes move around this painting? What do you see first? The fields, hills, or plants? The bridge? The buildings? What do you notice next?

Pattern Pattern

Shape Shape

Detail Detail

Imagination Isles, 1924–25When Wood was an art teacher at McKinley Junior High School in Cedar Rapids from 1922 to 1925, he designed a frieze—a long, narrow artwork—for his ninth-grade students to paint. When the painting was finished, the class presented it in a theatrical performance, unrolling it across the stage as a student read a script that Wood had written, celebrating the dreamlike imagination of childhood. The frieze was installed in the school cafeteria.

IMAGINARY PLACES

Take a close look at this frieze. Can you find what Wood described as:

Mountains with snow-capped peaks Fantastical tropical plants A sea bluer than the Mediterranean A glistening white castle Brilliantly colored trees

Draw your own imaginary isle!

Look out a Museum window and draw what you see. How is your view different from where Wood lived and worked?

KEEP DRAWING!

All artworks are by Grant Wood.

Lilies of the Alley, 1925. Earthenware flowerpot and found objects, 12 x 6 x 10 1⁄2 in. (30.5 x 15.2 x 26.7 cm). Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa; gift of Harriet Y. and John B. Turner II. 72.12.38. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photograph © 2017 Mark Tade

Van Antwerp Place, 1922–23. Oil on composition board, 12 1⁄4 x 14 1⁄8 in. (31.1 x 35.9 cm). Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa; gift of Harriet Y. and John B. Turner II 72.12.78. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

American Gothic, 1930. Oil on composition board, 30 3⁄4 x 25 3⁄4 in. (78 x 65.3 cm). Art Institute of Chicago; Friends of American Art Collection 1930.934. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photograph courtesy Art Institute of Chicago/Art Resource, NY

Parson Weems’ Fable, 1939. Oil on canvas, 38 3⁄8 x 50 1⁄8 in. (97.5 x 127.3 cm). Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas 1970.43. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931. Oil on composition board, 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1950. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; courtesy Art Resource, NY

Boy Milking Cow, 1932. Oil on canvas, cut out and mounted on fiberboard, 71 1⁄4 x 63 1⁄4 in. (181 x 160.7 cm) framed. Coe College, Permanent Art Collection, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; gift of the Eugene C. Eppley Foundation. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photograph by Mark Tade, 2005

Stone City, 1930. Oil on wood, 30 1⁄4 x 40 in. (76.8 x 101.6 cm). Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska; gift of the Art Institute of Omaha 1930.35. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Detail of Imagination Isles, 1924–25. Oil on canvas, 12 x 338 in. (30.5 x 858.5 cm). Cedar Rapids Community School District, Iowa; on loan to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa

CREDITS

Major support for Education Programs is provided by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, the Dalio Foundation, Krystyna O. Doerfler, The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation, The Paul & Karen Levy Family Foundation, Steven Tisch, and Laurie M. Tisch. Significant support is provided by Lise and Michael Evans, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Barry and Mimi Sternlicht, the Yurman Family Foundation, and Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick. Additional support is provided by Barker Welfare Foundation, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the Whitney’s Education Committee. Free Guided Student Visits for New York City Public and Charter Schools are endowed by The Allen and Kelli Questrom Foundation.

Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables is sponsored by Bank of America.

Major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Barbara Haskell American Fellows Legacy Fund. Significant support is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston; The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts; and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Generous support is provided by John and Mary Pappajohn and the Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street New York, NY 10014 whitney.org