How does this artwork elucidate its Background and painting?
Grant Wood was a regionalist painter from Iowa. During the Great Depression, he became one of the more prominent regionalists of the country. Arnold Comes of Age was completed in 1930 in celebration of the twenty-first birthday of his studio assistant, Arnold Pyle. Pyle, a painter himself and protégé of Wood, won blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair for his art depicting the Midwest in 1933, and the grand prize in 1936. He was heterosexual, and despite the affection that Wood showed him, did not romantically reciprocate—as Wood had done with many of his assistants, he disguised his outward affection as paternal love.The painting was originally entitled Portrait of Arnold Pyle. It depicts an awkward young man looking at the viewer as a butterfly lands on his shirt, set in a countryside while two men bathe in a nearby river. It is made of oil and is displayed on pressed board. Its dimensions are 26.75 inches (67.9 cm) tall by 23 inches (58 cm) across.
regionalist Great Depression Midwest Iowa State Fair Iowa Grant Wood made of oil