Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

XI
Anamosa: Grant Wood Country
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Artist Grant Wood, 1891-I942 (Photo submitted by
the Paint ‘n ' Palette Club)
Grant Wood, Iowa's most famous artist, whose
masterpiece. "American Gothic". has been called the
most famous American painting of the century. was
bom three miles east of Anamosa Feb. 13. 1891. The
home where he was bom. and where he lived for 10
years. was last tenanted by the late Louis Siebels. and
his wife. Margaret Ann. and their family. The house.
located on highway 64. was destroyed by fire in 1974. A
new home was built on the site.
Grant's father. Maryville Wood, married Hattie
Weaver in 1886. She taught school prior to her
marriage. in Anamosa in the little brick school house
on Strawberry Hill. They became the parents of Frank.
Grant. Jack and Nan.
It was from the rural home that Grant, a shy. quiet
boy of six.walked the mile or so to the one-room
Antioch school. His interest in drawing began in his
earliest childhood. He enjoyed presenting to his
classmates his drawings of flowers and birds. His
interest in birds was revealed in the Anamosa Eureka
when he was ten years old. The article reads:" Master
Grant Wood reports that he has found 55 varieties of
birds in his neighborhood. His communication on this
Grant Wood - Artist
submitted by Mildred Barker Brown
258
subject is very interesting and shows he is an
observing, thoughtful. wide-awake boy."
His earliest drawings were made on brown wrapping
paper or cheap white cardboard. paper often being a
scarce item.
In 1901. after his father passed away. Hattie Wood
and her four young children moved to Cedar Rapids.
which was to remain her home for the rest of her life.
Grant attended Washington High School in Cedar
Rapids and worked at any odd jobs that were available
to help with the family finances. He raised vegetables
for sale. cared for horses. mowed lawns and milked
cows for the neighbors. After he graduated from high
school in 1910. Grant attended an art school in
Minneapolis. He then taught at Rosedale Country
School about six miles from Cedar Rapids. and
attended evening classes in art at the University of
Iowa. He later enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago
and also worked at a silversmith's shop.
After serving in the army in WW1. Grant returned to
Cedar Rapids where. for a time, he was a machinist's
assistant in the Rock Island Railroad Shop. He later
taught art at Jackson Junior High School and McKinley
High School in Cedar Rapids. During this time. he made
four trips to Europe to study painting. With him on
some of these trips was Marvin Cone. who also became
a well-known artist. and had become his closest friend
when both were students at Washington High School.
ln 1924 David Tumer. a Cedar Rapids mortician.
had become a good friend of Grant's and provided living
quarters for Grant. his mother. Hattie. and his sister.
Nan. in a converted ca.rriage house behind the
mortuary. He also bought many of his paintings. The
carriage house was not large. but with Grant's and
Nan's creative abilities. the apartment became
comfortable. still leaving Grant ample space to set up
his easel and paint with the good lighting that
prevailed. The three of them lived in the carriage house
for eleven years.
In 1928 Grant went to Munich. Gennany. to
supervise the manufacture of a stained-glass window
he had designed for the Cedar Rapids Memorial
Coliseum. While on this trip. he was impressed by the
work of the German native artists. who used centuriesold
subjects. but had painted them in their own present
environments. He adapted these concepts to his own
work.
One of the first paintings. using this method. was the
portrait of his mother. "Women With Plants".
His painting of "American Gothic" was exhibited at
the Art Institute in Chicago in 1930. where it won the
$300 purchase award at their Annual Exhibition of
American Paintings. He also painted "Stone City" that
year. but it was the former painting which brought
Grant Wood to the attention of the art world. He