Grant Wood: Icon of American Regionalism

Saturated colors. Realistic images. Subtle satire. The famous American Gothic (1930) artist, Grant DeVolson Wood, born in 1891 in Anamosa, Iowa, was a leading figure in the Regionalism art movement that depicted rural Midwestern life and scenery.

At a young age, Wood lost his father and began living with his mother and brothers, working for financial stability while attending school. He studied at the Handicraft Guild in 1910, an art school founded and run by women. He later became a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1913, pursuing fine arts and metalworking. During World War I, he contributed his artistic skills by joining the army and creating camouflage art.

While Wood is best known for his Regionalist art and landscapes, his early work included other art forms, including stained glass. He also studied in Europe for a year and returned there several times to study painting, experimenting with Impressionistic styles. Eventually, he realized his true passion lay in his love for rural scenery and small-town life.

Wood’s 1930 painting American Gothic has remained a classic. He modeled the two people in the painting after his sister and his dentist. The painting on the cover of this issue, Young Corn (1931), was featured on a United States Postal Service stamp in 1996 to commemorate Iowa’s 150th year of statehood.

The year 1930 was a pivotal one for Wood. He won the Iowa Art Salon and received the Norman Wait Harris Bronze Medal in the same year. In 1942, as his contribution to art was gaining worldwide recognition, he died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 50.