Grant Wood

Born: 1891

Died: 1942

Grant Wood was born on a farm near Anamosa, Iowa. His family moved to Cedar Rapids after the death of his father in 1901. Wood studied at the Minneapolis School of Design, Handicraft, and Normal Art, as well as at University of Iowa, and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After a few years in Chicago, Wood returned to Cedar Rapids in 1916. Near the end of World War I, he joined the Army where he designed camouflage. At the end of the war Wood returned to Cedar Rapids where he taught art at a high school until 1925. Wood had his first gallery show in 1926. From 1920-1930, Wood made several trips to Europe where he familiarized himself with both modern painting of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionists, as well as the work of Northern Renaissance artists. In 1923 while in France, Wood studied at the Académie Julian. In 1930, Wood entered American Gothic at a competition held by the Art Institute of Chicago. The painting catapulted Wood into fame. He continued to paint similarly stylized images of small town life and American history throughout his career. In 1934 Wood was made the director of the New Deal Public Works Art Project in Iowa, and began teaching at the University of Iowa. Wood died of liver cancer in 1942.