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Sketch for house in "American Gothic"

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
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Object Details

Artist
Grant Wood, born Anamosa, IA 1891-died Iowa City, IA 1942
Gallery Label
Grant Wood's two-sided painting has a landscape on the front, and a study for the old house that appears in his well-known work, American Gothic, on the back. Widely considered a regionalist painter--depicting realistic scenes of rural and small-town America--Wood spent his early career as a decorative artist before moving to fine art in 1916. His smooth, rolling landscapes with serpentine curves evoke his early training in design. In fact, many of his works originated as abstract patterns that evolved into real-life scenes once the artist was satisfied with the arrangement. This acute attention to composition is apparent in Landscape. The alternating shades of green balance the weight of the scene, and the winding path in the center draws us into the distance.
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Park and Phyllis Rinard
1930
Object number
1991.122.2R-V
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on paperboard
Dimensions
12 5/8 x 14 5/8 in. (32.1 x 37.2 cm.)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Landscape
Study
Architecture Exterior\domestic\house
Record ID
saam_1991.122.2R-V
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk72c2de930-9402-41cf-99fb-ed7bf4ee7a68
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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