A collection of artwork featuring John Deere tractors opens this weekend in Davenport.
About 90 years ago, Chicago artist Walter Haskell Hinton was commissioned by Quad Cities-based Deere and Company to “humanize the tractor” in his paintings. Thirty-five of those paintings are on display at the Figge Art Museum. Figge executive director Tim Schiffer says Deere hired Hinton at a very emotional time for farmers, as they were replacing their work horses with tractors.
The exhibit is called “Walter Haskell Hinton – Image Maker for Deere,” and it’ll be on display at the Figge until February. Schiffer says many of Hinton’s paintings were used for calendars in the 1930s and 40s. He sees hints of both Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood in Hinton’s works. The paintings are on loan from the Deere and Company art collection.
