From Library Journal: In 1930, painter Grant Wood (1891-1942) created American Gothic, the iconic image of a stolid Midwestern couple complete with three-pronged pitchfork. The Art Institute of Chicago exhibited and purchased the piece, catapulting Wood to national acclaim as a regionalist. In conjunction with the opening of Wood's studio at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in Iowa, guest curator Milosch (Smithsonian) presents a survey of Wood's artwork and four highly readable essays on the artist, his career, his connection to the Arts and Crafts movement, and his relationship to Modernism. Included is the bitter campaign against his carefully articulated and representational images and his alleged ties to National Socialism in Germany. Contributors include on-site curator Debra Foxley Leach and art historians Wanda M. Corn, James M. Dennis, and Joni L. Kinsey. Although many books on this artist have been published, especially those concentrating on the iconic painting, this book is recommended for libraries that need a broad and careful survey of Wood and his culture.-Ilene Skeen, Hunter Coll.
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