For three months in the summer of 1920, Grant Wood and his best friend Marvin Cone traveled to Paris to see great art, soak up the sights, and to paint. This brief sojourn proved to be pivotal for both artists, enhancing their nascent interest in Impressionism and painting en plein air. While each artist was not to continue painting in this style beyond the early 1930s, this trip to Paris (Wood’s first trip abroad, Cone’s second) was critical to their development as artists. What the artists did, saw, and painted is carefully outlined in Cone’s meticulous and well-written diary of the trip, including where the artists painted on which days. As such, this diary enables the ability to date certain works to the precise date of creation. It also allows viewers to see how each artist depicted the same scene, often in very different terms.
Maty St. Clair, Ben Peterson Professor of Chemistry
This Thursday Forum will explore the issue of water quality in Iowa. The forum will begin with a brief introduction to the history of water technology and regulation in the United States, including the Clean Water Act (1972) and Safe Drinking Water Act (1974). As a primarily agricultural state, Iowa’s most significant water quality issues include excess nutrients and bacteria. We will discuss the impacts of those pollutants on human health and the environment, examine efforts to assess the problem (including our own Coe Water Quality Lab) and review a recent lawsuit by Des Moines Water Works against drainage districts in northwestern Iowa. We also will assess the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, Iowa’s plan to reduce the impact of its contribution to the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone.” Finally, we will take a look at other headline-grabbing water-quality issues with contaminants such as lead, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”) and viruses, with an eye toward anticipating future developments.
For three months in the summer of 1920, Grant Wood and his best friend Marvin Cone traveled to Paris to see great art, soak up the sights, and to paint. This brief sojourn proved to be pivotal for both artists, enhancing their nascent interest in Impressionism and painting en plein air. While each artist was not to continue painting in this style beyond the early 1930s, this trip to Paris (Wood’s first trip abroad, Cone’s second) was critical to their development as artists. What the artists did, saw, and painted is carefully outlined in Cone’s meticulous and well-written diary of the trip, including where the artists painted on which days. As such, this diary enables the ability to date certain works to the precise date of creation. It also allows viewers to see how each artist depicted the same scene, often in very different terms.
For three months in the summer of 1920, Grant Wood and his best friend Marvin Cone traveled to Paris to see great art, soak up the sights, and to paint. This brief sojourn proved to be pivotal for both artists, enhancing their nascent interest in Impressionism and painting en plein air. While each artist was not to continue painting in this style beyond the early 1930s, this trip to Paris (Wood’s first trip abroad, Cone’s second) was critical to their development as artists. What the artists did, saw, and painted is carefully outlined in Cone’s meticulous and well-written diary of the trip, including where the artists painted on which days. As such, this diary enables the ability to date certain works to the precise date of creation. It also allows viewers to see how each artist depicted the same scene, often in very different terms.
