| Grant Wood was born in Iowa where he
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| | austere poses and staring eyes.
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| spent most of his life. As a young child
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| | Wood became one of the major figures of
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| he loved drawing with charcoal and after
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| | Regionalism, a movement which flourished
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| graduating from high school he studied
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| | in the 1930s not only in Wood’s
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| art in Minneapolis and Chicago.
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| | Middle West but all over the United
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| During World War I he did camouflage work
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| | States.
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| for the Army. Then he became an art
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| | In 1930 Wood became very popular with
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| teacher. At that point he had already
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| | ‘Stone City, Iowa’, the
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| found the essential imagery of his future
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| | painting of an almost deserted city that
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| works: rolling landscapes, folk
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| | had been prosperous in the artist’s
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| architecture and farmers. However he
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| | youth, before the Depression, and
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| still painted in a manner that was not
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| | ‘American Gothic’ (opposite)
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| particularly original, and which could be
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| | which was highly praised by everybody for
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| called pseudo-impressionistic. He went to
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| | its originality and technical quality,
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| Paris in 1923, but it is, in fact, his
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| | except by Iowa farmers who saw in the
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| stay in Munich in 1928 that really
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| | picture an unfair caricature.
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| influenced his art. In Germany Wood
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| | Wood’s later works were also very
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| became fascinated by the work of the
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| | successful and in 1934 he was appointed
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| Flemish primitives particularly that of
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| | assistant professor at the University of
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| Memling and that by the portraiture of
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| | Iowa. Along with his teaching career he
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| Holbein and Durer. From then onwards he
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| | went on painting both for his own
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| painted his native Iowa with deliberate
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| | pleasure and for the Roosevelt
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| simplicity, clearcut realism, sharp
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| | Administration who wanted to promote art.
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| detailing, precise clarity of form,
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