Chuck and Jennifer Larson have made an extraordinary gift to the Art Center, Grant Wood’s Sketch No. 3, Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, 1931. Previously unknown to scholars, this marvelous graphite drawing is a preliminary study for the right side of Wood’s painting, Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, 1931. Born in West Branch, Iowa, Hoover began his career as a mining engineer. He supervised important relief work after World War I and served as President of the United States from 1929–33. The painting was commissioned by a group of businessmen as a gift for Hoover at a time when the economic chaos of the Great Depression engulfed the country. Many people lost their homes and were living in makeshift dwellings known as “Hoovervilles.” President Hoover evidently did not care for Wood’s fanciful and slightly mocking painting and rejected the gift. The drawing is signed and titled by the artist on the verso. Thanks to the title, we now know that Wood made at least three preparatory studies for the painting. (A charcoal, white chalk, and graphite preparatory drawing for the painting is in the collection of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, but a presumed second drawing’s location remains unknown.)   Source: Apr May Jun 2017 News