Beschreibung:

AN INTERESTING AND EXTENSIVE GRANT WOOD (1892-1942) ARCHIVE, CIRCA 1917-1962. Comprising original watercolor renderings, a charcoal sketch, early exhibition pamphlets and publications, photographs, articles, and clippings contained in two scrapbooks filled with over 150 pages of Grant Wood related material and presumably assembled by Fan Prescott, former Cedar Rapids Jackson High School principal and early employer and supporter of Wood and/or her family, as indicated by the commentary on some of the inserted notes found within. Of particular note are six neo-classical style watercolor interior design (home library) renderings possibly by Wood and possibly for the Van Vechten-Shaffer home, although no signatures or annotations. Each mounted on a separate scrapbook page and each executed on card stock measuring approximately 6.3 inches and height and when laid end-to-end totaling 65.75 inches. Additionally a circa 1915-20 charcoal portrait of a handsome young man measuring 10.5 inches x 9 inches (unsigned) and separated at the folds, possibly by Wood. A mimeograph copy of Grant Wood's 1921 play, “Imagination Isles.” An interesting double sided carved, painted and shingled house sign “”WILLAWOOD” thought to be made by Wood for relatives of Frances Prescott for a Minnesota cottage or cabin, 33.5 inches x 16.5 inches. Also of interest are the numerous publications including an original edition of Grant Wood's Revolt Against the City, Clio Press, Iowa City, Iowa 1935, a rare copy of the play “They That Mourn” by Grant Wood and Jewell Bothwell Tull, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York 1936, a printed and bound copy of Young Sam Clemens by Grant Wood presumably based on a letter to Cyril Clemens of the Mark Twain Society in the 1930’s, a copy of “Art in the Daily Life of the Child”, by Grant Wood University of Iowa Press, Child Welfare Pamphlet No. 37, published in 1939, original Stone City –Colony and Art School brochure Summer of 1932, and also for the summer of 1933, original Chicago Lakeside Press Galleries Exhibition catalog for February and March 1935 (Grant Woods preparatory drawing for Herbert Hoover’s Birth Place was loaned to this exhibition by its owner Miss Frances Prescott), a set of six printed note cards illustrated with various animals by Wood from Farm on the Hill, and dated 1936, a set of four printed note cards with envelopes displaying Woods hand colored lithographs Tame Flowers, Wild Flowers, Vegetables, and Fruit, the cover of the April 18, 1942 issue of The Saturday Evening Post displaying Woods painting Spring in Town, plus a copy of the University of Kansas Museum of Art’s retrospective exhibition catalog April 12th-May 30th 1959 and many other interesting articles and related material.
Note: The archives of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa include a number of scrapbooks from the estate of Grant Wood’s sister Nan Wood Graham (1899-1990). In one of the scrapbooks can be found, a photo of the Willawood house sign included in the offered lot together with a corresponding letter dated December 1982 as submitted by Steven Emmons for her opinion. Her reply is hand written across a photocopy of Emmons letter and reads; “This crude sign was not made by my brother, the late Grant Wood Most likely it was made by one of Grants former students at McKinley School, signed Nan Wood Graham, Nov 15, 1983.” It should be noted however that at this time Nan Wood Graham was 84 years old and while she saw herself as a both a protector and promoter of her brothers works, she was nevertheless never considered by most experts as the recognized authority when it came to authenticating previously unrecorded works by her brother. Furthermore, the Willawood sign is very much in keeping with the type of project Wood might take on for a friend or acquaintance, as such was his nature. One might even surmise that the name of the cottage or cabin is typical of the play on words in which Wood frequently employed. Instead of Willowood, which might suggest willow trees on the property, it is likely that the title is to be read with the “W” spoken with a German pronunciation as a “V” and thereby making the title have much more sense being pronounced as “Villa Wood” and perhaps even named in honor of Wood.