artist

Grant Wood

    48 
    Click to Favorite
    Click to Share

Grant Wood, best known as the hand behind American Gothic, was one of the preeminent figures of American Regionalism, a movement that emerged in America’s Midwest and Deep South during the Great Depression. His works translate the everyday, American farm life that Wood grew up with in Iowa into complex and meticulous oil paintings that both warp perspective and emphasize detail. Wood traveled in Europe early in his career, and was greatly influenced by the minute details of Northern Renaissance painter Jan van Eyck. He was also exposed to the avant-garde, dark, critical works of Germany’s Neue Sachlichkeit painters. Wood stands as a contradictory and enigmatic figure for art historians, who cannot decide if his works laud small town American culture, or if they critique it with the internal resentment of a closeted gay artist exposed to the liberal, city cultures of America’s East Coast and Europe.

Read more

Editorial (1)

See all
Why Is This Famous?: American Gothic

Why Is This Famous?: American Gothic

In our series Why Is This Famous?, we aim to answer the unanswerable: How does a work actually enter the public consciousnes…

Playlists (4)

See all
14

Introducing: American Regionalism

Click to More
21

Thanksgiving Feast

Click to More

Related artists

See all
Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

Dutch, 1390–1441
Francesco Francia

Francesco Francia

Italian, 1450–1517
Rogier van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden

Netherlandish, 1400–1464

Works (15)

Date updatedTime periodName