Fairfield library to host ‘Grant Wood: Rags to Riches’

An engaging and visually rich presentation filled with archival photographs and video clips, “Grant Wood: Rags to Riches – an American Success Story” will be offered at Fairfield Public Library on Saturday, May 17, from 1:30-3 p.m.

Presented by art historian and Dubuque-based physician Randy Lengeling, this program invites audiences to explore the inspiring life of Iowa’s most iconic artist while celebrating the state’s rich cultural legacy.

Born in 1891 and known internationally for his painting American Gothic, Grant Wood worked across a wide range of media, including lithography, ink, wood, and found objects. Though his career was brief—he died at just 50—Wood’s work helped define the American Regionalist movement, which depicted everyday rural life in the Midwest in direct contrast to European abstraction.

He also supported himself through commercial work for Iowa businesses and designed whimsical, agrarian-themed interiors, such as a corn-inspired hotel dining room. His deep connection to Iowa is immortalized in everything from public murals to his depiction of a one-room schoolhouse on the 2004 Iowa State Quarter.

Just a short drive from Fairfield, the small town of Eldon, Iowa, is home to the American Gothic House—the very structure that inspired Wood’s most famous painting. In 1930, while visiting Eldon, Wood was struck by the modest Carpenter Gothic-style cottage with its pointed upper window. He sketched the house on the spot and later used it as the backdrop for American Gothic, imagining “the kind of people I fancied should live in that house.”

Today, the American Gothic House & Center welcomes visitors from around the world, offering exhibitions and photo opportunities that celebrate this enduring symbol of American art and rural life.

This event, part of Fairfield Public Library’s Iowa History Speaker Series, is free and open to the public thanks to generous funding from Humanities Iowa and the Carnegie Historical Museum. Lengeling’s presentation will highlight not only Wood’s personal journey from a poor farm boy to an art world celebrity, but also his complicated tenure as a professor at the University of Iowa and the enduring legacy he left behind.

Randy Lengeling, a native Iowan, has pursued art history passionately alongside his medical career since seeing a major Grant Wood retrospective in 1984. That moment sparked a lifelong devotion to researching, collecting, and sharing the story of the artist he considers a touchstone of Iowa identity. Lengeling is a founding trustee of the Dubuque Museum of Art, which houses a nationally recognized collection of Wood’s work.

For more information, call 641-472-6551.

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