Village Slums

Grant Wood, Village Slums, 1937, charcoal, pencil and chalk on paperboard, image: 21 ¹⁄₈ x 16 in. (53.6 x 40.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Park and Phyllis Rinard, 1991.122.1

Artwork Details

Title: Village Slums
Artist: Grant Wood
Date: 1937
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 21 ¹⁄₈ x 16 in. (53.6 x 40.6 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Park and Phyllis Rinard
Mediums: chalk
pencil
charcoal
Mediums Description: charcoal, pencil and chalk on paperboard
Classifications: Drawing
Subjects: Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
Cityscape — weather — snow
Architecture — other — well
Cityscape — street — alley
Architecture Exterior — domestic — bathroom
Object Number: 1991.122.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.122.1

Artwork Description

Village Slums is one of nine illustrations that Wood created for Sinclair Lewis’s 1920 novel Main Street. Seven of the drawings depict characters from the novel, while only two show locations. Village Slums and another that details a mansion on Main Street that contrasts poor and wealthy neighborhoods. Wood made use of a bird’s-eye perspective in Village Slums, indicating that the viewer is looking down on the little community.

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009