Q 01/05

Which acquaintance of Grant Wood posed as the grim-faced farmer in his 1930 painting American Gothic?

A) His landlord

B) His banker

C) His dentist

D) His pastor

Answer · why

C) His dentist

His dentist, Byron McKeeby, was the model, and Wood added both figures back in his studio after sketching only the empty house.

Q 02/05

According to Grant Wood, how are the pair in American Gothic related, contrary to popular belief?

A) Husband and wife

B) Father and daughter

C) Uncle and niece

D) Preacher and parishioner

Answer · why

B) Father and daughter

Father and daughter, Wood confirmed in a 1941 letter, after newspapers had captioned the picture as an Iowa farmer and his wife.

Q 03/05

What did Grant Wood design for the United States Army near the end of World War I?

A) Camouflage

B) Recruiting posters

C) Trench maps

D) Uniform patches

Answer · why

A) Camouflage

Camouflage scenes were Wood's wartime job, and after the war he went back to Iowa to teach art to junior high classes.

Q 04/05

Grant Wood claimed that all his good ideas came to him while he was doing which farm chore?

A) Plowing a field

B) Feeding the hogs

C) Baling hay

D) Milking a cow

Answer · why

D) Milking a cow

Milking a cow was Wood's answer, part of a farm-boy image he built in the 1930s after playing down his art-school years in Europe.

Q 05/05

Which everyday object issued in 2004 carries a design based on a Grant Wood schoolhouse painting?

A) A postage stamp

B) A state quarter

C) A license plate

D) A dollar bill

Answer · why

B) A state quarter

A state quarter for Iowa shows the one-room country school Wood attended as a boy, with his name stamped on the coin.