Wood, Grant

Wood, Grant
born Feb. 13, 1892, near Anamosa, Iowa, U.S.
died Feb. 12, 1942, Iowa City, Iowa

U.S. painter.

He was trained as a craftsman and designer as well as a painter. On a visit to Germany in 1928, he was strongly influenced by the sharp detail of 15th-century German and Flemish paintings, and he soon abandoned his Impressionist manner for the detailed, realistic manner for which he is known. His American Gothic caused a sensation when exhibited in 1930. A telling portrait of the sober, hardworking Midwestern farmer, it has become one of the best-known icons of U.S. art, though it is often misinterpreted: the woman is not the man's wife but rather the unmarried daughter designated to stay on the farm to assist her widowed father.

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▪ American artist
born Feb. 13, 1891, near Anamosa, Iowa, U.S.
died Feb. 12, 1942, Iowa City, Iowa

      American painter who was one of the major exponents of Midwestern Regionalism, a movement that flourished in the United States during the 1930s.

      Wood was trained as a craftsman and designer as well as a painter. After spending a year (1923) at the Académie Julian in Paris, he returned to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where in 1927 he was commissioned to do a stained-glass window. Knowing little about stained glass, he went to Germany to seek craftsmen to assist him. While there he was deeply influenced by the sharply detailed paintings of various German and Flemish masters of the 16th century. Wood subsequently abandoned his Impressionist style and began to paint in the sharply detailed, realistic manner by which he is now known.

 A portrait of his mother in this style, Woman with Plants (1929), did not attract attention, but in 1930 his American Gothic caused a sensation when it was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago. The hard, cold realism of this painting and the honest, direct, earthy quality of its subject were unusual in American art. The work ostensibly portrays a farmer-preacher and his daughter in front of their farmhouse, but Wood actually used his sister, Nan, and his dentist, B.H. McKeeby, as models. As a telling portrait of the sober and hard-working rural dwellers of the Midwest, the painting has become one of the best-known icons of American art.

      Wood became one of the leading figures of the Regionalist movement. Another well-known painting by him is Daughters of Revolution (1932), a satirical portrait of three unattractive old women who appear smugly satisfied with their American Revolutionary ancestry. In 1934 Wood was made assistant professor of fine arts at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Among his other principal works are several paintings illustrating episodes from American history and a series of Midwestern rural landscapes that communicate a strong sense of American ambience by means of a skillful simplification of form.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Wood,Grant — Wood (wo͝od), Grant. 1892 1942. American artist noted for his paintings based on life in the Midwest, especially American Gothic (1930). * * * …   Universalium

  • Wood, Grant — (1892 1942)    Grant Wood, regarded as “one of the most American of America’s artists,” learned his trade at the Minneapolis School of Design and in night classes at the University of Iowa and Art Institute of Chicago. He taught in Cedar Rapids,… …   Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era

  • Wood, Grant — ► (1892 1942) Pintor estadounidense. Autor de American Gothic. * * * (13 feb. 1892, cerca de Anamosa, Iowa, EE.UU.–12 feb. 1942, Iowa City, Iowa). Pintor estadounidense. Fue formado como artesano, diseñador y pintor. Durante una visita a Alemania …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Grant Wood — Grant DeVolson Wood (Anamosa, Iowa, 13 de febrero de 1891 – Iowa City, 12 de febrero de 1942) fue un pintor estadounidense. Se le conoce sobre todo por sus pinturas representando el Medio Oeste rural estadounidense. Se le considera uno de los… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Wood — /wood/, n. 1. Grant, 1892 1942, U.S. painter. 2. Leonard, 1860 1927, U.S. military doctor and political administrator. * * * I Hard, fibrous material formed by the accumulation of secondary xylem produced by the vascular cambium. It is the… …   Universalium

  • Wood — Wood, Grant Wood, Natalie Wood, Robert Williams * * * (as used in expressions) Annie Wood Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1 conde de Johnson, Robert Wood Wood Buffalo, parque nacional Wood, Grant Wood, Leonard …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Grant — /grant, grahnt/, n. 1. Cary (Archibald Leach), 1904 86, U.S. actor, born in England. 2. Heber Jedediah /hee beuhr jed i duy euh/, 1856 1945, U.S. president of the Mormon Church 1918 45. 3. Ulysses S(impson) 1822 85, 18th president of the U.S.… …   Universalium

  • Grant — (ant.) adj. Grande. * * * grant. adj. desus. grande. * * * Grant, Cary Grant, Ulysses Simpson * * * (as used in expressions) Banting, Sir Frederick Grant …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Wood — Wood, Grant (1892 1942) a US artist who painted the painting American Gothic Wood 2 Wood, Sir Henry (1869 1944) a British ↑conductor (=someone who directs a group of musicians) who started the Proms, a series of concerts which take place in… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Grant Wood — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Wood. Grant Wood (13 février 1892 à Anamosa dans l Iowa 12 février 1942 à Iowa City) est un peintre américain. Il est surtout connu pour ses peintures du Middle West rural américain. Biographie Il suit les cours… …   Wikipédia en Français

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