Grant Wood

Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. His work, particularly American Gothic, has become an iconic example of 20th-century American art. Wood taught painting at the University of Iowa’s School of Art from 1934 to 1941. He died of pancreatic cancer the day before his 51st birthday.

About Grant Wood in brief

Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. His work, particularly American Gothic, has become an iconic example of 20th-century American art. Wood taught painting at the University of Iowa’s School of Art from 1934 to 1941. It is thought that he was a closeted homosexual, and that there was an attempt on the part of a senior colleague, Lester Longman, to get him fired both on moral grounds and for his advocacy of regionalism. Wood was married to Sara Sherman Maxon from 1935–38. His estate went to his sister, Nan Wood Graham, the woman portrayed in American Gothic. When she died in 1990, her estate, along with Wood’s personal effects and various works of art, became the property of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa.

In 2009, Grant was awarded the Iowa Prize, the state’s highest citizen honor. The World War II Liberty Ship SS Grant Wood was named in his honor. Wood is considered the patron of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and his work is depicted on the Iowa State Quarter’s State Quarter building. Wood’s work was marketed through Associated American Artists in New York and New York City in the 1930s and 1940s. He died of pancreatic cancer the day before his 51st birthday, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery, Anamosa, Iowa; he is buried with his wife Sara Maxon, who was born in Iowa in 1884, and their daughter Nan WoodGraham, who is also buried in Riverside Cemetery. He is survived by his wife, Sara, and three children.

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