January

Prints and Drawings

1938

Grant Wood
American, 1891-1942

This impressive drawing relates to a series of lithographs—which Wood planned but never completed—representing all the seasons and months of the year. He made finished drawings depicting four of the months, and this is the only subject of which he also made a painting. Contrary to the usual evolution of a composition, he made the lithograph first, in 1937, then this drawing, in 1938, and finally the painting, in 1940.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Grant Wood
Title: January
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1938
Medium: Charcoal, smudging and erasure, and white Conté crayon on tan paperboard
Inscriptions: Signed and dated lower left, in charcoal: "GRANT WOOD 1938"
Dimensions: 52 × 68 cm (20 1/2 × 26 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Regenstein Acquisition Fund and Regenstein Foundation
Reference Number: 2015.219

Joseph S. Czestochowski, Marvin D. Cone and Grant Wood: An American Tradition (Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, 1989), p. 198.

New York, World’s Fair, Gallery of Science and Art, “Contemporary Art of the United States,” 1939–40, cat. 32.
Washington DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, “Contemporary Art of the United States,” Nov. 10–Dec. 1, 1940, cat. 16.
IBM Traveling Exhibition, “Watercolors of the Western Hemisphere,” 1946.
IBM Traveling Exhibition, “Watercolors of the US,” 1951.
Omaha, Neb., Joslyn Art Museum, “The Thirties Decade: American Artists and their European Contemporaries,” Oct.–Nov. 1971, no. 204.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Art Center, “Grant Wood: The Graphic Work,” Mar.–May 1972, cat. 50; also Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Art Center.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, “John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood: A Portrait of Rural America,” Jan. 10–Feb. 28, 1981, pp. 191 (ill.) and 208, cat. 160; also Wichita State University, Mar 11–20, 1981; and the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mis., Apr 4–30, 1981.
New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, “American Images: Selections from the IBM Collection,” June–July 1984.
New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, “Selected Words from the IBM Collection,” Nov. 1985–Jan. 1986.
New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, “Fifty Years of Collecting: Art of IBM,” Sept.–Nov. 1989.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, “Grant Wood on Hundredth Birthday Anniversary Exhibition,” June 1991–Jan. 1992.
Omaha, Nebraska, Joslyn Art Museum, “Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed,” Dec. 10, 1995–Feb. 26, 1996, p. 106, cat. 53; also Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Museum of Art, Mar. 23–Sept. 8, 1996; Worchester, Mass., Worchester Museum of Art, Oct. 6–Dec. 31, 1996.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Master Drawings Unveiled: 25 Years of Major Acquisitions,” Aug. 27, 2016–Jan. 29, 2017, no cat.

Sold by Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, to IBM International Foundation, New York, 1940; sold, Sotheby’s, New York, May 25, 1995, pp. 106–07. Private collection, Chicago. Owen Gallery, New York. Private Collection, California. Sold by James Reinish & Associates, New York, to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2015.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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