Famous Freemason - Grant DeVolson Wood

"All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow."

Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for American Gothic, which has become an iconic example of early 20th-century American art.

The day before his 51st birthday, Wood died at Iowa City university hospital of pancreatic cancer. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery, Anamosa, Iowa.

When Wood died, his estate went to his sister, Nan Wood Graham, the woman portrayed in American Gothic. When she died in 1990, her estate, along with Wood's personal effects and various works of art, became the property of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa.

Bro. Wood was a member of Mount Hermon Lodge #263 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After receiving his 3rd Degreehe painted The First Three Degrees of Freemasonry in 1921.