Grant Wood Sultry Night

One of the rarest of Grant Wood's prints, Sultry Night was created in 1937 for Associated American Artists, a Depression-era enterprise that sold original prints by American artists, including Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Reginald Marsh. Sultry Night 1939 Grant Wood (American, 1892-1942) published by Associated American Artists Grant Wood studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago between 1913 and 1916. Between 1937 and 1941, he created 19 lithographs that were published by Associated American Artist (A.A.A.), a private gallery and publisher.

Sunday, March 18, 2018 Grant Wood and the story of "Sultry Night" A lesser-known work by Iowa's favorite-son artist Grant Wood --- the lithograph entitled "Sultry Night". IN 1939, the artist Grant Wood, whose folksy portrayals of Midwestern scenes had made him a household name in the Depression-era United States, created a picture of a naked farmhand. In the lithograph, which he titled Sultry Night, the farmhand pours a pail of bathwater over his head in the empty.

Grant Wood, Sultry Night, 1939, lithograph on paper, sheet: 11 3 ⁄ 4 x 16 in. (29. 8 x 40.

6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Park and Phyllis Rinard in honor of Nan Wood Graham, 1994.115.4. Title: Sultry Night Artist: Grant Wood (American, Anamosa, Iowa 1892-1942 Iowa City, Iowa) Date: 1939 Medium: Lithograph Dimensions: image: 9 x 11 3/4 in. (22.9 x 29.8 cm) sheet: 11 1/2 x 15 in.

(29.2 x 38.1 cm) Classification: Prints Credit Line: Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005 Object Number: 2007.49.472. R.

Tripp Evans: The lithograph is banned by the U.S. postal system-being an example of pornography-and the painting itself, Wood ends up destroying. R.

Tripp Evans: When Sultry Night the painting was unveiled, there were gasps and embarrassment at this image of a very frontally nude, front and center male figure. The model for Sultry Night is believed to be the English writer Eric Mowbray Knight (1897-1943), author of Lassie Come Home, and a close friend of Grant Wood (the title chosen by Wood may well be a pun on his friend's name). Knight spent summers in the late 1930s and early 1940s as a guest in Wood's home in Iowa City, or in summer rentals.

GRANT WOOD (1891-1942) Sultry Night lithograph, on Rives paper, 1939, signed in pencil, from the edition of 100, published by Associated American Artists, New York, with full margins, in good condition Image: 9 x 11 3 ⁄ 4 (229 x 299 mm.) Sheet: 11 1 ⁄ 2 x 15 in. (292 x 381 mm.). Artist Grant Wood (American, 1891 - 1942) Date1939 MediumLithograph DimensionsComposition: 9 x 11 3/4 in.

(22.9 x 29.8 cm) Sheet: 11 3/8 x 15 in. (28.9 x 38.1 cm) Mat: 19 x 24 in. (48.3 x 61 cm) ClassificationsPrints Credit LineMemphis Brooks Museum of Art purchase, Dorothy Bearman Memorial Fund and gift of Charles Caldwell III, Mrs.

J. H. Kiersky, Dr.

and Mrs. Marcus Orr and Richard O. Wilson.