January
Grant Wood · 1940–41 · Cleveland Museum of Art
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From the museum
One of the last paintings Wood created before his untimely death from liver cancer, January has a decidedly nostalgic cast. According to the artist, the painting was "deeply rooted in the memories of my early childhood on an Iowa farm. . . . it is a land of plenty here which seems to rest, rather than suffer, under the cold." One sign of activity, in the form of rabbit tracks, infiltrates the otherwise dormant scene. Wood’s composition teems with abstract design, most notably through the rhythmically geometric array of snow-laden corn shocks that seem to recede infinitely into the distance. For many years Wood maintained his painting studio on the property of a funeral home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- Grant Wood (American, 1891–1942)
- Date
- 1940–41
- Medium
- oil on masonite panel
- Dimensions
- Framed: 67 x 82.5 x 7.5 cm (26 3/8 x 32 1/2 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 45.7 x 60.1 cm (18 x 23 11/16 in.)
- Place of origin
- United States
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · On view · 226B American Modern
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund