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Show DAILY HERALD ‘SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSUEM “Daughters of Revolution” is featured in the Grant Wood exhibit at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery. Wood was anexceptionallyskillful painter, although not for long; most of his best pictures were paintedin thefivevears after 1930. Wood Continuedfrom BI rococo decorations. He could design a woman's necklace or a stained-glass window. He ham- mered teapots out of copper Examplesare onview. They're here for areason. And twoworks ofart are key to Jane C. Milosch’s exhibition. One is Wood’s strict picture; rather than ahead of them. Whatgives the work its punch is its slippery ambiguities. These haven't aged atall. Ti king it a question.Is the woman the farmer's wife, or mightshe be (nudge, nudge) the famous farmer's daughter of countless naughty jokes? Whatdoesthis painting mean todo,celebrateor satirize? Do its figures dwell in paradise, wherethe pioneering Protestant the otheris the vaguely medieval studio in which he made that painting — a charming, hand-built place acquired bythe veritiesstill hold, or is their rural in 2002. They have a lot in common. The painting and the studio demonstrate the principles notof Iowa,buta roll-up shade lar Rapids Museum of Art — theinsistenceonthelocal, t displayof traditional craftsman- ship — the decorative move- ment knownas American Arts andCrafts. Thepicture takes itstitle from anarchitecturalfashion. In its highermanifestations, American Gothic gave us the Wash- ington Cathedraland thecolleges at Yale. Farout in thesticks (in, for instance, rural Iowa), thestyleleft its mark on the factory-made windows, porch columnsand pattern books that in the 19th century were shipped inby train. Die is he defending, and of green bamboo is hangingat the farmhousedooras if to say thealien has already gottenin. I don’t know whether Wood expected “American Gothii to become an American icon, but hé wouldn't have been surprised.In the early 1930s, mythic American icons were very muchon his mind. Had youasked him to identify America’s best-knownpaintings, you can bet he would have named two pictures of George Washington: Gilbert Stuart's likeness,the so-called Atheneum Portrait of 1796, the one that’s on the dollar; and “Washington Crossing the Delaware”(1851), American Gothic’s” farmhouse, with its pointed gable window, is another local ar- tifact. Wood discovered that wooden building in nearby figures were local, too. The bald man ishis dentist. B.H. McKeeby. The womanis Wood's an. (She papers notso far from couldit be too late? Bamboo is at the time, McKeeby, 62.) Their eyes are cold, their mouths are prim. They wearperiod clothes. He stares the viewer down, she averts her gaze. They understandtheir ro Modernart, thisisn't. Wood's painting is behind its times, Emanuel Leutze'’s famousriver scene withice floes. In fact, both of these chestnuts can be found in Wood's ownart. A framed printof Leutze's generalstandingupin his rowboatis hanging onthe wall behindthe three prim ladies in Wood's “Daughters of Revalu- tion,” a canvas he completed in 1932. Wood's three ladies are satirized, but he paints his Leutze straight. Wood'spainting is here onview. The bewigged head of Stuart’s Washington, whois clearly a grown man,appears on a boy’s bodyin the prepara- Herniated Disc? Degenerative Disc? Sciatica? Free report reveals a new FDAapproved non-surgical solution for! KATHERINE FREY/Washington Post AJ. Guban adjusts thelighting for a two-sided sketch of the house in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.” Besides featuring a dozen of Wood's paintings, the Smithsonian show also remindsvisitors of his talents as a carpenter, carver andinterior decorator. torysketch for “Parson Weems’ Fable,” another work on view. Honestlittle George, who cannot tell a lie, has just hacked at the cherrytree. Such Grant Woods arejokes, of course, but theyare not jokes entirely. Wood didn’t paint obscurities. His pictures aren't mysterious; he wanted everyoneto get them. In 1931, whenhe painted his dollhouse version of the “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” he expectedit to resonate with the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — Listen mychildren and you shall hear . . — whose thumpety- W RA serious and chronic lowba pain. For yourfree report entitled, ‘olving Back Pain Without Il 1-888-671-8601 (Toll-free 24 Hour ‘orded message). ..or go to” w! e TechnologyIs at 17th Street NW, through July 16. The exhibition was organized by the Cedar Rap- The Renwick’s show suggests ids Museum ofArt (sponsors that’s what Grant Wood had in mind. “Grant Wood's Studio: Birthplace of American Gothic”will thump rhythms werealready be at the Renwick Gallery of presentin the public’s mind. the Smithsonian American Art Whatis remarkable about “American Gothic”is its famous- Museum, Pennsylvania Avenue Fun is where the Farm is! YOUNGLIVIN ness. Whatis equally remarkableis that the picture’s fame was not achieved by accident. VISITOR CENTER OPENDAILY EXCEPT SUNDAY include the Archer Daniel Midlands Company, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Friends of Grant Wood and the James Renwick Alliance). The Renwick is open daily from 10 a.m.to 5:30 p.m. Admissionis free. SOUa.) 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