The public is invited to join the Muscatine Art Center as they host Humanities Iowa speaker Professor Roy R. Behrens as he presents a 45 minute presentation on the artistic legacy of Regionalist artist Grant Wood. This presentation is to take place Sunday, November 17 from 2:00 to 3:00 PM in the Muscatine Art Center's Music Room. Admission to this program is FREE.
Grant Wood's most famous painting, "American Gothic", has been described as equivalent to Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of the "Mona Lisa". The attention given to that single work, however justified, too often prevents us from focusing on Wood's other accomplishments. How was he trained as an artist? What influenced him? Who in turn did he influence? What did he really achieve in life? This presentation is a visual and verbal analysis of Wood's artistic legacy, illustrated by dozens of examples of his drawings, prints, paintings and other artworks, including those less widely known. Among the highlights are rare historic photographs of Wood, his students, and his Regionalist contemporaries, accompanied by eyewitness stories about his creative process, his methods, his failings, his sense of humor, and the growth of his basic beliefs about art.
Roy R. Behrens is Professor of Art and Distinguished Scholar at the University of Northern Iowa. He has taught graphic design history for more than 35 years at art schools and universities throughout the U.S. An editor, author and designer, he has appeared in interviews on PBS, BBC, BBC Radio, and IPTV. He is described by Communication Arts magazine as "one of the most original thinkers in design," and was a nominee for the Smithsonian Institution's National Design Awards in 2003.
This program is funded by Humanities Iowa, a private, non-profit state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. A cultural resource for Iowans since 1971, Humanities Iowa brings humanities programs into the heart of Iowa communities.
The humanities are fields of study that help us to discover and remember who we are and how we came to be, as individuals and as part of the world. Humanities Iowa offers funding for this Speakers Bureau event and for grants in support of public programs to non-profit organizations in the state of Iowa.
