Catalogue of a traveling exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and other galleries.

Traces the life of the Iowa artist, discusses his regionalistic approach to art, and explains why he has been out of favor with critics in the past

Incorporating copious archival research and original close readings of American artist Grant Wood’s iconic as well as lesser-known works, Grant Wood’s Secrets reveals how his sometimes anguished psychology was shaped by his close relationship with his mother and how he channeled his lifelong oedipal guilt into his art. Presenting Wood’s abortive autobiography "Return from Bohemia" for the first time ever, Sue Taylor integrates the artist’s own recollections into interpretations of his art. As Wood dressed in overalls and boasted about his beloved Midwest, he consciously engaged in regionalist strategies, performing a farmer masquerade of sorts. In doing so, he also posed as conventionally masculine, hiding his homosexuality from his rural community. Thus, he came to experience himself as a double man. This book conveys the very real threats under which Wood lived and pays tribute to his resourceful responses, which were often duplicitous and have baffled art historians who typically take them at face value.

Richly illustrated, the book examines Wood's modernist tendencies, ranging from abstract design principles to the lasting influence of paintings by Georges Seurat and German Neue Schlichkeit artists. Also provides the most detailed account available of the artists working methods.

The social and political climate in which Wood's art flourished bears certain striking similarities to America today, as national identity and the tension between urban and rural areas reemerge as polarizing issues in a country facing the consequences of globalization and the technological revolution. Wood portrayed the tension and alienation of contemporary experience. By fusing meticulously observed reality with fables of childhood, he crafted unsettling images of estrangement and apprehension that pictorially manifest the anxiety of modern life.

"Best know for his famous canvas American Gothic (1930) American Artist Grant Wood pioneered a new vision of regionalist art ... The artist's life and work are illuminated by an insightful narrative and more than 60 color plates in this celebration of Grant Wood."--Amazon.