“Art for the American Home: Grant Wood’s Lithographs”
Now on Display
Art for the American Home: Grant Wood’s Lithographs” is currently on display at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in the West Bedroom Gallery of the Historic House. The exhibition will be on display through June 30, 2024.
In 1934, the Regionalist artist Grant Wood made an agreement with Associated American Artists (AAA) in New York to create a series of lithographs. Wood, the creator of Reynolda’s iconic 1936 painting “Spring Turning,” ultimately produced 19 lithographs, about a quarter of his mature work. His consummate drafting skills made him a natural for the medium. The AAA produced the lithographs in editions of 250 and sold them for $5 to $10 each. The opportunity to create affordable art during the Great Depression appealed to the artist.
This small exhibition will focus on Wood’s narrative lithographs (“Sultry Night,” “Honorary Degree,” “Shrine Quartet,” “The Midnight Alarm”) and still lifes. The colored still life lithographs of fruits, vegetables and flowers represent the fecundity of Iowa’s farmland.
“Grant Wood was interested in making art that was accessible to ordinary people, not just wealthy art collectors,” Allison Slaby, curator, said. “Consequently, at the height of the Great Depression, he made affordable lithographs and public murals that told the stories of his native Iowa. The lithographs in this exhibition range from the amusing to the poignant.”