Born in Elmwood, Illinois, Lorado Taft attended the University of Illinois and studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1880 to 1883. Following his return to Chicago, Taft began teaching at The Art Institute of Chicago and opened his own sculpture studio. His first important commission was for sculptures in the Horticulture Building at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Taft won awards for his work there and at other expositions, both national and international. In addition to earning an international reputation for his sculptures, Taft also taught, lectured, and wrote about art history throughout his career.
Grant Wood was an American painter and printmaker who is associated with the so-called American Scene movement in American art of the late 1920s and 1930s. Wood spent his career in his native Iowa and made its rural society his subject, notably in such works as his iconic 1930 painting American Gothic.