Grant DeVolson Wood was an American artist and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for American Gothic (1930), which has become an iconic example of early 20th-century American art.
Self-portrait, 1932
Grant Wood's boyhood home, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is listed as one of the most endangered historic sites in Iowa.
2004 Iowa state quarter honoring Grant Wood. Elements depicted include: the Schoolhouse, teacher and students planting a tree, (caption): "Foundation in Education", and Grant Wood.
Grant Wood, American Gothic (1930), Art Institute of Chicago
American Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting realistic scenes of rural and small-town America primarily in the Midwest. It arose in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression, and ended in the 1940s due to the end of World War II and a lack of development within the movement. It reached its height of popularity from 1930 to 1935, as it was widely appreciated for its reassuring images of the American heartland during the Great Depression. Despite major stylistic differences between specific artists, Regionalist art in general was in a relatively conservative and traditionalist style that appealed to popular American sensibilities, while strictly opposing the perceived domination of French art.
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (1931) by Grant Wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark (Figure Composition), 1920, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
John Steuart Curry, Tragic Prelude, 1938–1940, Kansas State Capitol, Topeka