Cultural Importance of Corn
Here in the Midwest, we talk about corn. A lot.
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Since Taylor Swift's career started in 2004, midwesterners Googled "Corn" more than "Taylor Swift", according to Google Trends. In states like Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, around 60% of conversations revolved around corn compared to the meteoric pop star.
The Corn Belt
The Corn Belt, for this project defined as Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Kentucky, has been the stalwart of American corn production for generations. It holds 87% of all corn cash receipts in the United States, amounting to a whopping $62,750,736,000 in 2021.
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But what if we look at corn in a different way: through The National Gallery's collection?
The National Gallery
The National Gallery of Art has over 150,000 artworks in its collection. The National Gallery, originally started as a gift to the nation from Andrew W. Mellon, officially began in 1937 with Mellon’s own painting and sculpture collection. Then in 1943, the Gallery accepted the Index of American Design, “a collection of more than 18,000 drawings and watercolors documenting early American design and craftsmanship, and related research materials, from the federal Works Progress Administration”.
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Nearly 30% of all rural or farm landscapes were acquired in 2015. In fact, breaking down The National Gallery’s acquisition data by year according to keyword shows that 58% of all rural/farm acquisitions occurred in 2010 or later.
If these results are surprising to you, you’re not alone. As time passes, and data entry adjusts, what is classified as a ‘landscape’ may change. Taking a closer look at the collections data reveals that 8% of artworks aren’t tagged with any keywords and at least 10,000 artworks aren’t included in the dataset. And over half (53%) of the artworks that are recorded aren’t assigned a theme, such as landscape or still life.
Do we just have more detailed recordkeeping today, or could it be that as the climate changes, we value our “amber waves of grain” more as we recognize their fragile nature? My guess is that it’s a little bit of both.