GRANT WOODAn American Movement: Regionalism

GRANT WOOD TIMELINE• 1891 Grant Wood born on February 13 on a farm near Anamosa, IA• 1910 Graduates from high school and takes a summer course at

the Minneapolis School of Design and Handicraft• 1911 Retunes for a second summer to the Minneapolis School of

Design and Handicraft• 1913-16 Takes evening drawing classes at the Art Institute of

Chicago and opens a jewelry and fine metalwork shop• 1916 Returns to his family’s home in Cedar Rapids• 1918-19 Serves in army designing camouflage for artillery• 1919 Teaches in public school system. Killian’s Department Store

sponsors his first exhibition.• 1920 Travels to Paris for the summer• 1923-24 Returns to Paris and takes classes at the Academie

Julian. Travels to Sorrento, Italy in the winter months• 1926 Makes last trip to Paris and holds a solo-exhibition at the

Galerie Carmine• 1927 Commissioned to complete a stained glass window for the

new Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids

GRANT WOOD TIMELINE CONTINUED

• 1928 Travels to Munich for three months with artist friend Marvin Cone

• 1930 Wins medal at the annual exhibition of the Art Institute of Chicago for his painting American Gothic

• 1932 Opens Stone City Colony and Art School, which stays open for two summers

• 1934 Elected director of Public Works of Art Project in Iowa and named Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa (UI)

• 1935 Marries Sara Maxon• 1939 Divorces Sara Maxon Wood• 1941 Awarded honorary degrees from Northwestern

University and Wesleyan University. Appointed Full Professor of Fine Arts at UI

• 1942 Dies of liver cancer on February 12

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• Was born on a farm near the small town of Anamosa, February 13 , 1891.

• Wood’s family moved to Cedar Rapids after his father died in 1901.

• Began an apprenticeship in a local metal shop.

• Graduated from Washington High School.

• Enrolled in an art school in Minneapolis in 1910

GRANT WOOD

BIOGRAPHY• 1913 he enrolled at the School of

the Art Institute of Chicago and did some work as a silversmith.

• From 1920 to 1928 he made four trips to Europe, where he studied many styles of painting, especially impressionism and post-impressionism.

• Influenced by the work of Jan Van Eyck

• From 1924 to 1935 he lived in the loft of a carriage house that he turned into his personal studio.

• 1932 Wood helped found the Stone City Art Colony near his hometown to help artists get through the Great Depression.

• He became a great proponent of regionalism in the arts.

GRANT WOOD BIOGRAPHY• Wood taught painting at

the University of Iowa’s School of Art 1934.

• 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.

GRANT WOOD BIOGRAPHY

GRANT WOOD’S AWARDS• 1928 First Prize, Iowa

Federation Women’s Clubs

• 1929 First Prize, Iowa Art Salon

• 1930 First Prize for Portrait and Landscape Genre, Iowa Art Salon

• 1930 Norman Walt Harris Bronze Medal, Art Institute of Chicago

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GRANT WOOD(SHRINE

QUARTET)

GRANT WOOD (MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL REVERE)

In Grant Wood’s painting, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” Grant showed the story as he imagined it as a child. He painted broccoli-shaped trees and toy-like houses. The roads go off into the background and seem to glow in the dark. Grant gave his painting an almost fairy tale look. Paul Revere’s horse even looks more like a wooden rocking horse rather than a real horse!

GRANT WOOD(AMERICAN GOTHIC)

One day Wood discovered a farmhouse with an unusual window. The arch-shaped window was based on a style of European architecture from the Middle Ages called Gothic Architecture. Grant liked the contrast of a European window on an American farmhouse. After he made sketches of the house, Grant looked for just the right people to go with it. He thought his family dentist and his own sister, Nan, would be perfect for the farmer and his daughter.

GRANT WOOD(AMERICAN

GOTHIC) CONTINUED

GRANT WOOD(OLD STONE

BARN)

GRANT WOOD (DINNERS FOR THRESHERS)

GRANT WOOD (HOUSE WITH A BLUE POLE)