Artist: Grant Wood (American, 1891-1942)
Title: Prize
Date: 1923
Accession #: LTL.2004.02
Medium: Egg tempera on paper
Dimensions: 8 x 9 in.
Acquired by: Dr. Randall Lengeling
About the Artist: In 1923, Grant Wood was living in Cedar Rapids, teaching art in the public schools. Occasionally, Wood’s compositions included farm yards or agricultural elements, but he had not yet become known as the painter of distinctly Midwestern, specifically Iowa, scenes. Oddly enough, then, considering his later fame as the painter of rural themes, this tempera painting of 1923 is an oddity in his early work. If we did not know the date, we would assume he produced it during the heyday of his Regionalist period.
It is such a perfect image of all that Wood popularized and believed in as the proper subject matter for an artist of the Midlands that it is startling to realize how uncommon this kind of imagery was during the early part of his career. It is a celebration of the heartiness and earthiness of rural culture, and Wood seems to share in the farmer’s pride. He poses his prizewinners slightly above us so that we must look up to them. He does not take a folksy, condescending approach, as if recording the small time prize of a country citizen, nor does he seem to find it a quaint or picturesque vignette of life on the farm. Wood presents the farmer and his two magnificent horses as dignified and worthy, as substantial as the earth on which they stand. Clearly and justifiably pleased with himself, the farmer is a person to take seriously. Wood obviously does take him seriously, and invites us to admire him as well.