The artwork titled “The Appraisal” was created by Grant Wood in 1931. It is an oil painting on board, and it belongs to the Regionalism art movement. This artwork is classified under the genre of portrait and genre painting.
In “The Appraisal,” Wood depicts two women engaging in what appears to be a conversation. The woman on the left, dressed in a practical outdoor coat and a knitted cap, cradles a chicken in her arms. She gazes at the woman on the right, who is adorned in a fashionable coat with a fur collar and a stylish hat, possibly indicating a higher social status. The setting includes a background of rural architecture, with buildings that suggest a barn and a farmhouse, typical of Regionalist emphasis on rural American life. The meticulous attention to detail and the expressions on the women’s faces enhance the narrative quality of the piece, making it a quintessential example of the artist’s genre-painting prowess.
