Print artists: Grant Wood

Grant Wood was an American painter and printmaker who drew inspiration from the rural Midwestern states. While wood is best remembered for his iconic painting, American Gothic, he created a large portfolio consisting of painting, drawing, metalwork, lithography, and writing.

Wood left his home state of Iowa as a young man to study art in Minneapolis, Chicago and Europe. In Europe, Wood was influenced by a number of painting styles ranging from Impressionism to Flemish painting.

During the Great Depression, Wood returned to Iowa where he was a founding member of the Stone City Art Colony. His rural location provided the perfect setting for his Regionalist style. Wood most often depicted farm families and the sprawling hills and towns in his surrounding area.

Like many of his contemporaries, Wood maintained a link to academia by teaching at the University of Iowa’s art department. By working at the University and at his art colony, Wood was able to maintain a thriving art community, which helped him continue to grow as an artist.

Wood embraced printmaking later in his career after hiring a technician from Chicago to come to the Stone City Art Colony. According to the Dubuque Museum of Art in Iowa, which owns a large collection of Wood’s lithographs, Wood created twice as many lithographs as oil paintings.