Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables
Mar 2–June 10, 2018
Early Landscapes and Narrative Paintings
7
In his early landscapes, Grant Wood recast the farmscape of his childhood into an Arcadian fantasy of undulating, swollen shapes and decorative embellishments whose multiple focal points keep the viewer’s eye in constant motion by giving all parts of the composition equal weight. His landscapes do not depict Midwestern farm life in the 1930s. Instead, they portray his idealized memories of the 1890s farm in Anamosa, Iowa, where he lived as a young boy before moving to Cedar Rapids with his family following the death of his father. His desire was not so much to portray a world that was becoming extinct as to recover a mythical childhood that existed only in his imagination.
Stone City, 1930
Grant Wood, Stone City, 1930. Oil on wood, 30 1/4 x 40 in. (76.8 x 101.6 cm). Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska; gift of the Art Institute of Omaha 1930.35. © Figge Art Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Stone City is the first landscape Wood executed in his mature hard-edged style. Depicting a hamlet outside Cedar Rapids that was once known for its thriving limestone quarry, Wood’s painting is characterized by a precision that he felt expressed a specifically American quality. The work’s aerial perspective and ornamental patterning reflect his study of nineteenth-century atlases and Currier and Ives prints, which enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the 1930s. The painting’s profusion of stylized details lent it a decidedly decorative quality that recalled Wood’s training in Arts and Crafts, but also caused it to be criticized for being too fanciful and mannered.