Cooper Hewitt says...
Grant Wood (American 1891-1942) was an American artist known for his paintings of the rural Midwest, especially “American Gothic.” He was born near Anamosa, Iowa. When his father died in 1901, the family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Wood became an apprentice in a metal shop and later graduated from Washington High School. In 1910, he enrolled in the Handicraft Guild, an art school run by women, in Minneapolis. The following year, he returned to Iowa and taught in a one-room schoolhouse. In 1913, he enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
From 1924 to 1935, Wood lived and worked in the loft of a carriage house in Cedar Rapids. His 1930 painting, “American Gothic,” is one of the most famous paintings in American art. It was first exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it won a $300 prize; it is still located there.
In 1932, he helped found the Stone City Art Colony near his hometown to help artists survive the Great Depression. He became a proponent of regionalism in the arts and lectured throughout the U.S. on the topic.
Wood was married to Sara Sherman Maxon from 1935-1939. He taught painting at the University of Iowa's School of Art from 1934-1941.
He was a member of Associated American Artists, which marketed a number of his works as lithograph prints and one as a textile design in the early 1950s.
Wood died of pancreatic cancer one day before his 51st birthday. His personal effects and various works of art are the property of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa.
