# Grant Wood artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/grant-wood/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T19:07:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1891-02-13
- Death date: 1942-02-13
- Nationality: American
- Movements: American Regionalism
- Common media: Oil painting, Lithography, Drawing, Sculpture

## About Grant Wood

Grant DeVolson Wood (1891–1942) was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor who became the defining voice of American Regionalism. Born in Anamosa, Iowa, and based in Cedar Rapids for most of his career, Wood turned his native Midwest into a subject of national attention. His best-known work, American Gothic (1930), is among the most recognized paintings in American art. Alongside Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry, Wood championed a figurative, place-based alternative to European modernism during the interwar period. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and traveled to Europe, where exposure to Northern Renaissance painting deeply influenced his precise, tightly rendered style. Wood also founded the Stone City Art Colony and served as a professor at the University of Iowa, shaping a generation of Midwestern artists. His lithographs, drawings, and lesser-known canvases appear regularly at auction and remain sought after by collectors of American art.

## Common works and media

Collectors are most likely to encounter Wood's lithographic prints (such as Tree Planting, Fertility, and Sultry Night), charcoal or pencil drawings, oil on canvas or panel paintings, murals and public commissions, and poster or exhibition reprint editions. His subjects center on Iowa landscapes, farm scenes, portraits of rural figures, and stylized Midwestern imagery. Stone City and Daughters of Revolution are among his frequently referenced works beyond American Gothic.

## Market and appraisal context

Grant Wood's auction market is well-established and liquid, with 541 total lots and 460 priced records spanning over three decades (1994–2026). Ten named auction houses—including Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Swann Auction Galleries, Heritage Auctions, and Rago Arts and Auction Center—consistently offer Wood material, reflecting sustained institutional demand. The price distribution is wide but heavily concentrated in the mid-four-figure range for prints and works on paper: median price $3,100, interquartile range $1,800–$4,481. The ceiling is defined by rare, museum-quality works; the current record in this dataset is $1,565,000. A notable recent result is the pencil study for American Gothic that realized $584,200 at Christie's in January 2026, demonstrating that preparatory works and studies connected to Wood's iconic paintings carry significant premiums. Lithographic prints from the 1930s and early 1940s (Fertility, February, Tree Planting, Approaching Storm, Seed Time and Harvest, Sultry Night, Midnight Alarm, Honorary Degree, December Afternoon) represent the bulk of traded material and typically realize between $1,200 and $6,100, with condition, impression quality, and margin completeness driving variance. The market showed a modest volume decline from 57 lots in the prior 12-month window to 41 lots in the most recent 12 months, but pricing remained stable, suggesting steady collector interest rather than speculative fluctuation.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Grant Wood's auction market is well-established and liquid, with 541 total lots and 460 priced records spanning over three decades (1994–2026). Ten named auction houses—including Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Swann Auction Galleries, Heritage Auctions, and Rago Arts and Auction Center—consistently offer Wood material, reflecting sustained institutional demand. The price distribution is wide but heavily concentrated in the mid-four-figure range for prints and works on paper: median price $3,100, interquartile range $1,800–$4,481. The ceiling is defined by rare, museum-quality works; the current record in this dataset is $1,565,000. A notable recent result is the pencil study for American Gothic that realized $584,200 at Christie's in January 2026, demonstrating that preparatory works and studies connected to Wood's iconic paintings carry significant premiums. Lithographic prints from the 1930s and early 1940s (Fertility, February, Tree Planting, Approaching Storm, Seed Time and Harvest, Sultry Night, Midnight Alarm, Honorary Degree, December Afternoon) represent the bulk of traded material and typically realize between $1,200 and $6,100, with condition, impression quality, and margin completeness driving variance. The market showed a modest volume decline from 57 lots in the prior 12-month window to 41 lots in the most recent 12 months, but pricing remained stable, suggesting steady collector interest rather than speculative fluctuation.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily uses these 460 priced auction records as comparable-sale evidence when estimating fair market or replacement value for Grant Wood works. For lithographic prints—the most commonly encountered category—valuations weight the edition number, impression quality (strong vs. faded), sheet size and margins, signature presence, and condition (foxing, creasing, toning). For drawings and oil paintings, comparable lots are narrower; the dataset includes only a handful of oil-on-canvas or panel results, and premiums attach to subject matter tied to Wood's recognized Regionalist themes and to works with documented provenance or catalogue raisonné references. The Christie's Study for American Gothic result ($584,200) illustrates how direct connection to an iconic painting can multiply value well beyond the median. Appraisers should supplement these public-auction comparables with photos of the work, measured dimensions, medium confirmation, signature verification, condition reports, provenance documentation, and any edition or catalogue raisonné details before establishing value. Private-sale and dealer asking prices may differ from auction realizations.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes



### Market caveats

- The 541-lot dataset includes prints, posters, reproduction editions, and attributed works alongside original paintings and drawings; the $1,565,000 maximum reflects an outlier, and the median of $3,100 is the more representative benchmark for typical Wood material at auction.
- Lot titles in the source data sometimes use uppercase or shorthand; without full catalogue descriptions, medium and attribution certainty should be verified before relying on any single lot as a comparable.
- Several recent lots (e.g., Approaching Storm at Helmuth Stone, March 2026; Portrait of Nan at Sotheby's, 2018) show null price-realized values, meaning the result was either unpublished, the lot was bought-in, or the data has not yet been updated. These lots cannot be used as pricing evidence.
- The dataset does not distinguish between authorized estate-printed editions and lifetime impressions; buyers should confirm edition origin.
- Wood's market is mature rather than rapidly appreciating; volume has softened slightly (41 lots in the last 12 months vs. 57 in the prior period), though prices have held steady.
- Individual appraisal values depend on direct physical examination and are not guaranteed by these aggregate auction patterns.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/grant-wood/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-study-for-american-gothic-pencil-on-papersight-4-237-c-1f5663ec8b
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-approaching-storm-image-11-7-8-x-8-7-8-in-302-x-225-c-2aa1f6d414
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-portrait-of-nan-33-c-fbe4b249f5
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-february-lithograph-1941-254-c-849ca09f84
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-december-afternoon-1941-253-c-08b571ef9b
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-midnight-alarm-1939-252-c-d94c4ffdbb
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-honorary-degree-1938-251-c-d089b4f28a
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-fertility-1939-1119-c-72228e23df
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-approaching-storm-7-c-8d7f6daadb
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-honorary-degree-173-c-2a54164870
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-tree-planting-group-lithograph-5121-c-70a4a90870
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-lithograph-262-c-cd5457faab
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-american-still-life-oil-painting-by-grant-wood-66-c-33e41cc916
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-fruit-32-c-39815035b8
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-wildflowers-31-c-59c91c0042
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-fruits-109-c-250dd2d311
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-in-the-spring-108-c-1762cdadbc
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-seed-time-and-harvest-lithograph-3-c-094c8d62d2
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-seed-time-and-harvest-lithograph-765-c-a39d56cb1e
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-american-1891-1942-lithograph-217-c-a2e9619fec
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-grant-wood-1891-1942-approaching-storm-34-c-5fe4ea6c65

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. This page draws on the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, Wikidata, the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), and the Museum of Modern Art collection records.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50014999
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q217434
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/92909902/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Wood
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/6439
- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/85497