Time Machine: Grant Wood’s old shoes

Geraldine Roberts, assistant society editor of The Gazette-Republican in 1930, wrote a column about shoes and their wearers that included a few paragraphs about “Old Shoes,” a 1926 painting by Grant Wood.

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“Shoes aren’t very romantic,” Roberts wrote, “but at least they’re essential. A Cedar Rapids artist even saw their possibility for a good still life picture, which you see reproduced on this page.

“And incidentally, we might tell you the story of how Grant Wood came to paint his old shoes.

“It seems that the owner of the shoes and his buddy, none other than Marvin Cone, went out into the woods one day to paint. But the weather forecaster though differently. So it was not long before the rain began splashing down on these artists. They gathered their effects and started for Grant Wood’s studio in haste.

“On arriving at the designated shelter, they removed their wet shoes and stockings and decided even Old Man Weather could not deter them from spending the afternoon with their pigments.

“And here is where the shoes come in. His old shoes appealed to him, so Grant Wood spent a merry afternoon painting their picture. When it was done, he threw it in a corner — not condescending to call it a picture.

“But David Turner, discovering it some days later, said, ‘Grant, I like that,’ whereupon he was the recipient of the picture of the old, wet shoes. Its new owner had it framed and since then the old shoes have been the subject of much comment.

“That’s the story as David Turner tells it.”

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David Turner buys Wood paintings

“Old Shoes” found its way to the Lakeside Press Galleries in Chicago in February 1935, along with a collection of other Wood creations. The catalogue for the exhibit featured Wood’s “Arbor Day” on the front and a review of Wood and his work written by Park Rinard and Arnold Pyle.

That October, copies of several of Wood’s paintings, including “Old Shoes,” were presented to a meeting of the Hammond Woman’s Club in Hammond, Ind.

Turner Mortuary owner David Turner had a respectable collection of Grant Wood paintings he liked to show to visitors. He started his collection by simply asking Wood to hang his art in the mortuary or in his home.

As a result, Turner told a reporter in 1939, “I learned to love those pictures, and every time that one of them had seemed to become part of the family, it would disappear” when Wood sold it.

So, Turner bought them all.

The painting Turner prized the most was the portrait of his father, John B. Turner. But another favorite was the rain-soaked shoes.

Turner had lots of offers to sell some of the paintings but was never persuaded to part with them. He did, however, loan paintings for exhibits.

One potential buyer told him, “I saw your Grant Wood painting ‘Old Shoes’ in a recent Eastern exhibit. My mother’s maiden name was Oldshoes, and I’d like to buy it for her birthday. Name your price.”

Turner declined.

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A director of a Boston museum came to view the collection, then asked Turner where the guest book was. When Turner told his visitor there was no guest book, the man said, “I really am somebody in the world of art, and a lot of people would be interested to know that I came all the way out here to see your collection.”

So, Turner acquired a register.

The Davenport art gallery hosted an exhibit of 90 American artists in 1940. Among the paintings was Doris Lee’s “Showboat,” owned by Mrs. Henry Luce of New York, and two Grant Wood works, “John B. Turner, Pioneer” and “Old Shoes.”

‘Old Shoes’ travels

After Wood’s death in February 1942, the Cedar Rapids Art Association put together a memorial exhibit of his best work in August, preceding one scheduled for October at the Chicago Art Institute.

The Chicago institute allowed “American Gothic” to leave the gallery for the first time since it was hung there in November 1930 to be displayed with the Cedar Rapids memorial exhibit, which also included “Old Shoes.” The exhibit included up to 40 Wood paintings that were locally owned, including 17 owned by David Turner.

The Chicago Art Institute wrote Turner that “this is the first time an artist has been so honored by the institute.”

In 1949, David Turner purchased Marvin Cone’s painting of rodeo champion Cowboy Crosby’s hat to hang opposite Wood’s “Old Shoes” in the mortuary.

In 1972, Harriett and John B. Turner II gave more than 84 Grant Wood paintings, graphics, sculpture and memorabilia, including “Old Shoes,” to the Cedar Rapids Art Center. The center — the precursor of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art — already had 32 paintings. With the Turner gift, it suddenly had the largest Grant Wood collection in the world.

Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com

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