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Label Text 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
DimensionsSheet (/image): 13 1/4 × 10 7/8 in. (33.7 × 27.6 cm)
Accession Number 2016.77
Classificationswork on paper
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedGrant Wood 1931 (l,r graphite); Grant Wood (verso u,l graphite)
InscriptionsSketch No.3, Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, Grant Wood 1931 (verso u,l graphite)
ProvenanceArtist. Estate of Robert Brooks, Springfield, MA; Saul and Joyce Babbin, Westerly, RI [purchased from the previous, 1990s]; Charles and Jennifer Larson, Des Moines; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 2016]
Sketch No. 3, Birthplace of Herbert Hoover
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Christopher Wood
date unknown
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
1941
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
1939
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines 3.29.2018
Grant Wood
1937
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
1940
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
1939
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
1938
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
1937
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Grant Wood
date unknown