A publication of the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art has opened the Grant Wood Studio and Visitor Center
at 5 Turner Alley to the public as of Dec. 11. The CRMA was given the original
studio in 2002 and has been working on the building since. American artist Grant
Wood (1891-1942) lived and worked in the 5 Turner Alley Studio between 1924 and
1934, and it was in this studio that he painted one of the world’s most
famous works of art, American Gothic.
Wood’s Cedar Rapids studio is the second floor of a late 19th century carriage house. The modest red brick and wood building sits next to a large, elegant mansion that once housed one of Cedar Rapids’ most prominent families. In 1924, the property was sold to the Turner Family and became Turner Mortuary. In 1978, Turner Mortuary was sold to Cedar Memorial Funeral Home, Inc. The mansion and carriage house were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
His long-time patrons, John B. Turner and his son, David Turner, originally offered the carriage house loft to Wood in 1924. The Turners had underwritten trips for Wood to study art in Europe in 1920 and 1923-1924, and they owned a number of the resulting paintings. When they purchased the Douglas Mansion with the intention of converting it into a funeral home, they commissioned Wood to redesign the mansion’s interior for its new function. The Turners also gave Wood permission to convert the unused upper floor of the rear carriage house into a studio and residence. The lower floor served as a garage for business vehicles and equipment at that time.
Wood designed and built a compact studio and living space of approximately 1,000 square feet under the sharply angled roof. A storage room, a tiny kitchen, and the bathroom take up less than a quarter of the total space, leaving a large flexible area for living, entertaining and painting.
In addition to American Gothic, Wood created many of his most famous paintings in the Studio, including Woman with Plant, 1929 (CRMA), Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931 (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Daughters of the Revolution, 1932 (Cincinnati Art museum), and Dinner for Threshers, 1934 (de Young Museum).
The Grant Wood Studio and Visitor Center at 5 Turner Alley – located
at 810 Second Ave., SE, is open Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays from
Noon-4 p.m. Guided tours of the actual studio are offered on the hour, with the
last tour scheduled for 3 p.m. each day. Tour prices are $5 for adults and $3
for students (18 and under), and seniors (62 and over). Children under 5 are free
if accompanied by an adult. A portion of every admission helps the continuing
restoration and preservation of the Studio.
For more information, visit www.crma.org
or call (319) 366-7503.