Grant Wood, January, 1940-1941
Grant Wood (American, 1891-1942)
January, 1940-1941
Oil on masonite panel, 45.7 x 60.1 cm (18 x 23 11/16 in.)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2002.2
Grant Wood’s paintings, or at least the ones in a Regionalist style, are incredibly rare. Once he developed his signature style, he produced fewer paintings than Vermeer. The Museum was incredibly lucky to snag this chilly snow scene, which originally belonged to the great film director King Vidor. The icy quality of the scene probably reflects Wood’s personal troubles during the last year of his life, when he was drinking heavily and was battling with other faculty members at the University of Iowa.
Bibliography
Henry Adams, What’s American about American Art? A Gallery Tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Hudson Hills Press, New York, 2008, pp. 138-39.
Henry Adams, “January by Grant Wood,” Calendar of the Cleveland Museum of Art, April 2002, pp, 10-11.