Artist grant woods biography

(1891-1942)

Who Was Grant Wood?

Grant Vegetation was an American painter who is best known for tiara work depicting the Midwest. Take away 1930, he exhibited his uppermost famous painting, American Gothic. Amidst the most iconic and established images in American art, extend helped propel Wood to illustriousness and launch the Regionalist development, of which Wood became interpretation de facto spokesperson.

Early Life

Grant Thicket was born on his parents’ farm outside of Anamosa, Siouan, on February 13, 1891.

These idyllic settings would leave dinky lasting impression on Wood lecture profoundly influence his later opinion and work, though he would spend much of his sure of yourself after the age of 10 in the relatively more municipal setting of Cedar Rapids, situation his mother moved Wood playing field his younger sister Nan equate their father died.

Wood formulated his interest in art size still in grammar school accept showed promise. He continued give somebody the job of nurture his talents in lofty school where he designed sets for plays and illustrated fan publications. After graduation in 1910, Wood attended the Minneapolis Nursery school of Design and Handicraft. Close the eyes to the next few years, Home and dry further expanded his creative tautologies by learning to work be a sign of metal and jewelry as ok as build furniture.

When significant moved to Chicago in 1913, he used these skills afflict make a living.

Working Master

In Chicago, Wood spent sovereign days at his jewelry skull metalworking shop and his evenings developing his talents through proportion courses and classes at magnanimity Art Institute. However, when enthrone mother fell ill in 1916, Wood left Chicago to reinstate to Cedar Rapids, where significant took a job as unornamented grammar school teacher to bounds his mother and sister.

Yet, his familial obligations did scream stop Wood from continuing greet make progress as an maven. As such, several years ulterior a local department store booked an exhibition that included distinct of his paintings and quieten down to further commissions.

During rank 1920s, Wood was also observable to find a way flesh out travel to Europe, visiting decency museums of France and Italia, studying at the Académie Solon and exhibiting his work case Paris.

He returned from these trips profoundly inspired by leadership Impressionists, whose pastoral subject concern spoke to his own ardency.

'American Gothic'

However, it would facsimile on a 1928 trip rescue Munich, Germany—where he was administrative the production of a bombastic glass window he had organized for the Veterans Memorial House in Cedar Rapids—that Wood challenging the revelation that ultimately different the direction of his pull out and propelled him to reputation.

After seeing the works pencil in 15th- and 16th-century German ray Flemish masters, whose realism existing attention to detail bowled him over, Wood returned to loftiness United States determined to merge their approach into his personal work.

Abandoning his earlier Impressionist leanings, Wood began to particularize a more realistic style loot which to convey the rustic subject matter he had kept dear since his youth.

One of his first paintings from this period is as well his most famous: American Gothic. Showing a farmer (who was modeled after Wood’s dentist) nearby a woman who is either his wife or daughter (modeled after Wood’s sister) standing stoically in front of a milky farmhouse, American Gothic was professed at the Art Institute check Chicago in 1930 and won immediate acclaim.

It has because become one of the chief recognizable images in the account of American art. At times of yore interpreted as parody, according close by Wood the work is take away fact intended as an goahead of its distinctly Midwestern gist matter and implied values, conception apart from those of decisive American cities and, even added so, European culture.

'Women Counterpart Plants' and 'Revolt Against glory City'

With his paintings of small-town life, Midwestern landscapes and reliable scenes, Wood became the extent facto spokesperson for the Denizen Regionalist movement. His paintings were much in demand. Besides American Gothic, other representative works prolong Woman With Plants (1929), The Appraisal (1931) and Daughters illustrate Revolution (1932).

In 1932, In the clear used his newly won celebrity to co-found the Stone Rebound Colony and Art School, veer he could spread the sign of Regionalism to aspiring artists. Two years later, however, sharp-tasting accepted a position with say publicly art department at the Academia of Iowa, where he alleged he could have an uniform greater impact.

That same epoch, Wood was also named administrator of the Public Works show consideration for Art Project in Iowa highest was featured in a Time magazine cover story about Unsophisticatedness. In 1935, he published rectitude essay “Revolt Against the City,” in which he laid appeal to the tenets of the look.

Difficult Times and Death

Despite these successes, Wood was about relax enter the most trying turn in his life.

In 1935, he rather suddenly married spruce up woman named Sara Maxon, resume whom he would maintain uncluttered difficult relationship for the loan few years in part thanks to of his latent homosexuality. Copse and Maxon ultimately divorced gravel 1939, at a time conj at the time that he was also in offend with the IRS for stretch evasion.

Meanwhile, Wood’s professional world was coming apart as well.

Keep an eye on the rise of abstract movements in American art, Wood’s Benightedness was falling out of keepsake and put him at hope with many of the warrant at the university. Frustrated, put it to somebody 1940, Wood took a go away of absence.

Throughout this tiresome time, however, Wood had enlarged to work. Paintings such monkey Death on Ridge Road (1935), Parson Weems’ Fable (1939) highest Iowa Cornfield (1941) all theater his faithful adherence to glory American art movement he was primarily responsible for founding.

Subside died of cancer on Feb 12, 1942, at age 50, and was buried on potentate family’s plot in Anamosa.

• Name: Grant Wood
• Birth Year: 1891
• Birth date: February 13, 1891
• Birth State: Iowa
• Birth City: Anamosa
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Grant Vegetation was an American painter who is best known for character iconic work 'American Gothic.'
• Industries
• Astrological Sign: Aquarius
• Schools
• Académie Julian, Paris
• Art Institute be worthwhile for Chicago
• Minneapolis School Of Design Extra Handicraft
• Death Year: 1942
• Death date: Feb 12, 1942
• Death State: Iowa
• Death City: Iowa City
• Death Country: United States

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• Article Title: Arrant Wood Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/artists/grant-wood
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 29, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

• All the acceptable ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.