Visual Storyteller

Have you heard the saying a picture is worth a thousand words? Study the three works by Grant Wood shown here. What clues does the artist include to help you see each story? Wood provides enough information for viewers to decode each scene. But he always leaves enough unsaid that there is room for varied interpretations.

Have you heard the saying a picture is worth a thousand words? Grant Wood tells stories in his artwork. Study the three paintings on these pages. Can you find the clues Wood includes in each work to help viewers understand each narrative?

Wood completed the painting above in 1935 and intended for it to appear on the cover of his autobiography (which he never finished writing). It is a self-portrait titled The Return From Bohemia. In the center, Wood paints his own likeness in front of a canvas. He holds an artist’s palette and paintbrush. Five figures look over his shoulders at the painting on the easel.

The title, The Return From Bohemia, refers to the period after Wood returned from Europe. Bohemian describes someone who lives an unconventional life. Many people in Wood’s community viewed the artist’s time in Europe as a period of carefree adventure. They believed it was inappropriate for a young man to become an artist and he felt judged for traveling to Europe to study the Renaissance and Impressionist masters. When he returned to Iowa, he felt like an outcast. Wood said he painted friends and family looking over his shoulders with “contempt, scorn and an I-know-I-could-do-it-better look."

The Return from Bohemia above is a self-portrait. In the 1935 work, Wood paints himself in front of a canvas. Figures look over him at the painting on the easel.

The word bohemian describes someone who lives an unusual life. Many of Wood’s friends and family didn’t understand why the artist traveled to Europe. They thought it was inappropriate for a young man to be an artist. This was one of the reasons Wood felt like an outcast. When he returned to Iowa, he made this painting showing his friends and family looking over his shoulders. He called their expression “an I-know-I-could-do-it-better look.”

In the painting above, Wood uses foreshadowing. The road creates a diagonal, pulling the viewer’s eye up the winding road into the action. Dramatic lighting and foreboding clouds create tension. Long shadows follow the contours of the hill, as highlights draw attention to the cars and cherry-red truck. The car in the center skids across the road as the truck begins its descent down the hill. Two poles supporting the power lines each take the shape of the cross.

Each of these details foreshadows the accident that is about to occur. Wood painted this work, called Death on the Ridge Road, in 1935 shortly after a close friend was in a car accident. Like many artists, Wood found inspiration in the events in his own life. His storyteller’s instincts help him create suspenseful moments before the narrative unfolds, letting the viewer’s imagination complete the story.

In the work at right, Wood captures the moment before a car crash. He adds details to help you imagine what happens next. The road is a diagonal line leading the viewer’s eye to the action. Dark clouds and shadows make the scene serious and suspensful. Highlights draw attention to the road. A car skids as the truck comes over the hill.

The details hint at an accident about to occur. Wood made this work, Death on the Ridge Road, in 1935. A friend of his had just been in a car accident. Like many artists, Wood’s life inspired his art.

In Wood’s 1931 Appraisal, above, two women look at one another and a chicken looks at the viewer. The woman on the left is dressed for work on the farm. She wears a knit hat and a durable-looking jacket. The woman on the right is dressed more formally in a fur-lined coat, pearl earrings, and a fancy hat. Each woman clutches something possessively in her arms—a chicken and a beaded purse.

To appraise means to place value on something. The purse and the chicken suggest that the women are discussing the price of the poultry, but their exchanged looks imply they are appraising, or judging, one another as well. It is in the chicken’s gaze at the viewer, however, that Wood adds a touch of humor. Do you think the chicken knows the women are discussing its fate?

In Appraisal, right, Wood paints two women looking at each other while a chicken looks at the viewer. The woman on the left wears a knit hat and a sturdy-looking jacket. She is dressed for work on the farm. The woman on the right wears formal clothes: a fur-lined coat, pearl earrings, and a fancy hat. Each woman clutches something in her arms. One holds a chicken, the other a beaded purse.

To appraise means to give something value. The purse and the chicken are clues that the woman on the right wants to buy the chicken. The women’s facial expressions suggest that they are judging each other. Wood paints the chicken looking at the viewer to add a bit of humor. Do you think the chicken knows that the women are discussing its fate?