Grant Wood - Spring Brook Elementary School

Self-portrait, 1932

Grant Wood – As a child • Born on February 13, 1891 in Iowa • Died in 1942 • Grew up on a farm in Anamosa, Iowa

• Went to school in one room school house • Liked to draw but had no money for art supplies - He used bits of charcoal and cardboard • In 1916, he went to study at the Art Institute of Chicago

Grant Wood – As an adult • During World War I (1914-1918), he painted camouflage on trucks and cannons • In 1920, after the war, he went to France, Italy and Germany to study art, and supervised the making of stained glass windows • Also studied “Gothic Art” which was very detailed and natural. People were shown with serious expressions and buildings had long lines and pointed arches The Little Chapel Chancelade, 1926

Back in America… • Discovered a new style of painting called American Regionalism – – – –

Tell a story with his art Young Corn, 1931 Painted subjects he knew Represent everyday, ordinary people and places He was called the Midwestern Painter

• Worked as a high school art teacher, painted, designed stained glass windows • Wanted to be identified as a farmer; wore overalls all the time

• Grant Wood designed and built the stained glass window at the Veterans Memorial Building for $9,000 in 1927 – Cedar Rapids, Iowa

• The window includes a 16 foot "Lady of Mourning" and life size soldiers from the Revolutionary War through WWI. Veterans Memorial Window, 1929

Telling a Story

Woman with Plants, 1929

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Grant painted his mother as a strong and loving frontier woman.

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Farm landscape

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The decorative stitching on her dress, the cameo around her neck, the potted plant and other details that were important to her.

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People all over Iowa were proud of Grant’s portrait of his mother.

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It was one of the first paintings about the Midwest that seemed like it was done by someone who really knew and understood the people there.

Telling a Story The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1863 (…) A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet; That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat. (…)

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931

Telling a Story

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"Arbor Day," a 1932 painting by native Grant Wood, was used to design the state quarter in the 50 State Quarters Program.

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The quarter shows a one-room schoolhouse with a teacher and students planting a tree and the words "Foundation in Education."

American Gothic, 1930

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American Gothic, 1930

Grant liked the contrast of a European window on an American farmhouse. His family dentist and his own sister, Nan, were the models for the farmer and his daughter Won the third place prize at big show at the Art Institute of Chicago People all over America loved the newspaper pictures they saw of it. People felt Grant’s art was easier to understand than the new modern art Grant’s paintings along during a rough time in history known as the Great Depression.

Parody • A humorously exaggerated imitation of an artist

Parody

Things to remember • American Regionalist Painter – Painted to express the images in his mind – He liked to tell a story with his art

• Gothic Art refers to: – detailed and natural images – People generally have serious expressions – Buildings have long lines and pointed arches

• Parody means a humorously exaggerated imitation of an artist