January, 1940-41 (oil on masonite panel)

This painting portrays snow-laden shocks of corn that recede into the distance, like a line of armored soldiers, in a white, otherwise featureless landscape. Wood beautifully rendered the irregular patterns of frozen snow and icicles hanging from the corn. Close examination reveals that the snow is not simply white but a complex mix of dozens of colors. In the foreground, the tracks of a rabbit zigzag through the white landscape and enter a hole in the cornshock. Painted at a time when Wood and his work were under attack at the University of Iowa, the piece explores opposing themes of shelter and oblivion. Along with Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) and John Steuart Curry (1897-1946), Wood is one of the three major figures of the Regionalist movement, which dominated American art of the 1930s. The theme of the abundant Midwestern landscape is common in Regionalist painting. However, January represents a surprising inversion of this theme of Midwestern abundance.