Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Despite Grant Wood's admiration for the people and places of his native Midwest, his imagery is not without occasional parody. Like other native-born artists and writers, such as Sinclair Lewis, Wood possessed an insider's honesty and ability to poke fun at himself.

This print borrows from Wood's experiences as a member of the Freemasons and suggests the absurdity of an earnest group of rural Midwestern men surrounded by exotic camels and pyramids. The humor is exacerbated by the dramatic, unnatural lighting and grotesque shadows produced by the Shriners' fez hats. The image serves as a male counterpart to the pious patriotism satirized in Wood's Daughters of the Revolution.

The opening lines of the Masonic "Song of Welcome” also suggests this cross-cultural connection:

Brethren from the East and West
Who have stood the Tyler’s [outer guard] test
You will find a welcome here
Bright, Fraternal and sincere.