Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa

Grant Wood

Date

1931

Medium

Oil on masonite

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Grant Wood, born and raised in Iowa, was the foremost artist of the American Regionalist movement, which examined the values of a rural environment. This carefully organized landscape, with its linear precision and repetition of forms, emphasizes the order and harmony of country life. A group of Iowa businessmen commissioned this painting to present to President Herbert Hoover, who was born in the white frame cabin situated immediately behind the two-story house in the middle of the scene. The president, who had stressed his humble origins during his campaign, refused the painting because the inclusion of the larger, later house obscured the cabin. Wood eventually sold it through a dealer. United States, Americas

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