East Wind - The Surrender

Artist / Maker John Preston ((American, b. 1953))

Date2006

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from Mary Molison Finley Newton, Class of 1956, in honor of the legacy of Morrill Hall as the home of the ISU Choral Music Program from 1931-1980. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU2011.233

Status

On view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: Artist John Preston is known for his oil paintings of wide-open fields and dramatic skies, focusing on rural Iowa landscapes after his move to the state in 1979. His observations are painted both on site and from memory to create the image. The cool blue tones of East Wind–The Surrender feature a rain cloud moving through the vast Iowa countryside, in a finished, idealistic depiction of agriculture in Iowa. Preston adopts a satirical and often critical viewpoint of the realities of agriculture in Iowa in a contemporary watercolor series accessioned into the University Museums’ collection in 2020. Images of carbon pipelines, manure spreaders, and references to the Covid-19 pandemic abound in this series exploring how environments can be treated poorly by human hands. The watercolor media creates a more harried view of the landscape, with the mechanical systems shown up-close and personal in comparison to the idealized oil landscapes the artist creates.

Locations