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Papers of Grant Wood Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department. Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials. Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement. Acquisition and Processing Information: The papers were donated to the University Archives by Edwin B. Green. Inventory prepared by Denise Anderson. Guide posted to the Internet March 2007. Photographs: 0.25 linear ft. |
Grant Wood holding paint brushes, not dated |
Scope and Contents
The Grant Wood collection includes articles and clippings about Grant Wood, as well as photographs, art museum exhibit brochures, correspondence, and book covers that use Grant Wood art.
Biographical Note
Grant Wood was born near Anamosa, Iowa on February 13, 1891. He lived on a farm until age ten, when his father died, after which his mother moved the family to Cedar Rapids. He studied at the Minneapolis School of Design and Handicraft, and later the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr. Wood was drafted into the Army in 1917, and was stationed at Camp Dodge near Des Moines, where he painted portraits of officers and enlisted men. He taught art in the Cedar Rapids schools from 1919 until 1925.
In 1920 Grant Wood studied at the Julian Academy in Paris. It was during this decade that Mr. Wood’s famous painting style began to emerge. He was in Munich in 1928 to direct the building of a stained glass window for the Cedar Rapids Memorial Coliseum, and returned to Iowa with a desire to paint in his own realistic style rather than the romantic art style of the time. His unique style was immediately popular, and most of his famous Regionalist paintings were created during the 1930s. During the early 1930s, Mr. Wood established an art colony in Stone City, near Cedar Rapids. In 1934 he joined the faculty at the University of Iowa, in the Department of Graphic and Plastic Arts, as associate professor, and became full professor in 1939. He married Sara Maxon in March 1935, and they divorced in September 1939. Grant Wood died of cancer at the University Hospital in Iowa City one day before his 51st birthday, February 12, 1942.
Related Materials
Folder, "Wood, Grant," in Faculty and Staff Vertical Files collection (RG 01.15.03).
Numerous articles and books have been written about Grant Wood and his artistry. These are noted in the University of Iowa Archives' online bibliography under the category Liberal Arts: Art: Grant Wood. Of particular note are the following titles:
Corn, Wanda. Grant Wood, the Regionalist Vision. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983. 168 pp., illus, notes, bibliog. Art Library; Special Collections Department, Archives cataloged books.
Czestochowski, Joseph S. John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood: A Portrait of Rural America. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1981. 224 pp., illus., bibliog. Art Library; State Historical Society of Iowa.
Dennis, James M. Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1986. Rev. ed. 256 pp., illus., notes. Art Library.
Graham, Nan Wood. My Brother, Grant Wood. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1993. 200 pp., illus. Special Collections Department, Iowa Authors collection, and Archives cataloged books.
Box Contents List
Articles about Grant Wood. 1.0 linear ft.
Oversized articles about Grant Wood. 1.5 linear ft.
Salzman photocopies of articles about Grant Wood. 0.5 linear ft.
Newspaper clippings. 0.5 linear ft.
Photographs of Grant Wood. 0.25 linear ft.
Publications. 0.5 linear ft.
Miscellaneous (posters, book covers, etc.). 0.5 linear ft.
Correspondence and memos about Grant Wood. 0.5 linear ft.
Art gallery programs. 0.5 linear ft.
Associated American Artists catalogs, 1938-1967. 0.25 linear ft.
