The Stone City Art Colony and
School 1932-1933
The American Regionalism Movement:
Electronic & Print Resources
Home - The Project - The Colony - The Artists - Resources - Credits
The Dearborn House ("The Postmaster's House"), Stone
City, IA
Completed in 1863, this house was
built by Henry Dearborn to have a view of his quarry.
It is typical of the region and time. The basement became Stone City's village
post office in 1873.
Photo by Kristy Raine with permission of the owner.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961) definitions of regionalism include:
"the theory or practice of selecting a particular locale or region for subject matter and stressing its characteristic aspects in art or literature."
The story of the Stone City Art Colony and School is a regional story. Several of the artists, Wood and Pyle in particular, are representative members of that movement in art. Many of the artists who studied at the school moved on to other genres and subject matters but their training included a good dose of what was to be labeled American Regionalism in art.
This webliography includes selected references that will lead the interested reader to more.
“American Gothic.” From Sister Wendy’s American Collection. (PBS) Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/works/ame.html
“Artcyclopedia: American Regionalism: 1930s.” Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: (http://artcyclopedia.com/history/regionalism.html)
"The Arts: Graphic and Plastic Arts." In The WPA Guide to 1930s Iowa. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1986, pp.140-149.
Ayers, Edward. “Introduction.” From American Regionalism (MS). (9/15/1995) No longer available online.
Brown, Hazel E. Grant Wood and Marvin Cone: Artists of an Era. Ames, IA: Iowa State University, 1972.
Burns, E. Bradford. Kinship with the Land: Regionalist Thought in Iowa, 1894-1942. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1996.
Campbell, Donna M. “Regionalism and Local Color Fiction: 1865-1895.” Literary Movements. 1997-2003. Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/lcolor.html s
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. “Grant Wood, 1891-1942.” Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.crma.org/collection/wood/wood.htm
DeLong, Lea Rosson, and Gregg R. Narber. A Catalog of New Deal Mural Projects in Iowa. [Des Moines, IA]: L.R. DeLong, 1982.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “John Steuart Curry: Inventing the Middle West, at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.” Exhibition 13 June-30 August 1998. No longer available online.s
Godsell, Mary Alma. Regional Novels in Iowa and Nebraska During the Last Half Century. Thesis (M.A.): University of Arizona, 1941.
Green, Edwin B. "Grant Wood of Iowa." The Palimpsest 53.1 (January 1972): 1-17.
Hamlin, Gladys E. "Mural Painting in Iowa." The Iowa Journal of History and Politics 37.3 (1939): 227-307.
Haven, Janet. “Depression-era Regionalism.” From “Going Back to Iowa: The World of Grant Wood.” Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA98/haven/wood/depreg.html
Iowa State University, Parks Library Art. “Grant Wood Murals: About the Murals.” Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.lib.iastate.edu/cfora/generic.cfm?cat=arts_murals_wood&navid=10701&parent=3000&disp=classic&pagemode=
Iowa Press and Author’s Club. Prairie Gold: By Iowa Authors and Artists. Chicago: Reilly & Britton, 1917.
Joslyn Art Museum, Permanent Collection. “Grant Wood: Stone City, Iowa.” Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://joslyn.org/Collection/Search-Detail.aspx?ID=bf023131-92bb-4fab-a94a-35966fc010d8
Kansas State Historical Society. “John Steuart Curry: A Kansas Portrait.” Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.kshs.org/portraits/curry_john.htm
Marple, Alice. Iowa Authors and Their Works: A Contribution Toward a Bibliography. Des Moines, IA: Historical Department of Iowa, 1918.
Museum of Art, Brigham Young University. “150 Years of American Painting, 1794-1944: Looking Toward Home: Regionalism of the 1930s.” Accessed 28 April 2003. No longer available.
Nemanic, Gerald, ed. A Bibliographical Guide to Midwestern Literature. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1981.
Ormsby, Mary Regina. Iowa in American Fiction from 1890 to 1938: A Study in Regionalism. Thesis (M.A.): De Paul University, 1941.
Pierce, David C., and Richard C. Wiles. “A Place for Regionalism?” Hudson River Valley Review: A Journal of Regional Studies. 17.1 (March 2000). ©1999 The Bard Center. Accessed 29 April 2003. Available: http://www.hudsonrivervalley.net/hrvr/essays/regional.php
Rowe, Anne E. “Regionalism and Local Color.” From Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Eds. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris. ©1989 by University of North Carolina Press. Accessed 29 April 2003. Available: http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/regionalism.html
Sage, Leland L. "Iowa Writers and Painters: An Historical Survey." Annals of Iowa 42.4 (Spring 1974): 241-270.
“Thomas Hart Benton: Profile.” From Ken Burns: American Stories. (PBS) Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/benton/benton/
Truman Presidential Museum and Library. “Oral History Interview with Thomas Hart Benton.” (April 21, 1964). Interviewer: Milton F. Perry. Accessed 28 April 2003. Available: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/benton.htm
Webb, Dottie. “Local Color: Regional Writing in the United States, 1870-1910.” Accessed 30 April 2007. Available: http://www.dotwebb.com/regional_writing/
Whiting, F. A., Jr. "Stone, Steel, and Fire: Stone City Comes to Life." American Magazine of Art 25.6 (1932): 333-342.
Winther, Oscar Osburn, and Richard A. Van Orman. “Iowa.” In A Classical Bibliography of Periodical Literature of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1811-1957. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1961, pp.171-210.
Wood, Grant. Revolt Against the City. Iowa City, IA: Clio Press, 1935.
When Tillage Begins: The Stone
City Art Colony and School
Published online October 2003 by the
Busse Library
Mount Mercy College
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Telephone: 319-368-6465
Fax: 319-363-9060
Email: library@mtmercy.edu
Researcher & Author: Kristy Raine
Library Director: Marilyn Murphy
Editor & Web Designer: Linda Scarth
©Busse Library 2003-2008