Village Slums

Grant Wood, Village Slums, 1937, charcoal, pencil and chalk on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Park and Phyllis Rinard, 1991.122.1
Copied 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
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
Mediums Description
charcoal, pencil and chalk on paperboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape — street — alley
  • Architecture — other — well
  • Cityscape — weather — snow
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
  • 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