American Gothic: Difference between revisions
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In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed [[American Gothic House|the Dibble House]], a small white house built in the [[Carpenter Gothic]] architectural style in [[Eldon, Iowa]]. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."<ref name="fineman"/> He recruited his sister [[Nan Wood Graham|Nan]] (1899–1990) to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th-century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950) from [[Cedar Rapids, Iowa]]. The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the Gothic window of the house and the structure of the man's face. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house. |
In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed [[American Gothic House|the Dibble House]], a small white house built in the [[Carpenter Gothic]] architectural style in [[Eldon, Iowa]]. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."<ref name="fineman"/> He recruited his sister [[Nan Wood Graham|Nan]] (1899–1990) to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th-century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950) from [[Cedar Rapids, Iowa]]. The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the Gothic window of the house and the structure of the man's face. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house. |
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They had ALOT of Spare time because there parents beat them and there dog often rejected them. |
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==Reception== |
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Wood entered the painting in a competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The judges deemed it a "comic valentine," but a museum patron convinced them to award the painting the bronze medal and $300 cash prize. The patron also convinced the Art Institute to buy the painting, which remains there today.<ref name="about" /> The image soon began to be reproduced in newspapers, first by the ''[[Chicago Evening Post]]'' and then in [[New York City|New York]], [[Boston]], [[Kansas City Metropolitan Area|Kansas City]], and [[Indianapolis]]. However, Wood received a backlash when the image finally appeared in the ''[[The Gazette (Cedar Rapids)|Cedar Rapids Gazette]]''. Iowans were furious at their depiction as "pinched, grim-faced, puritanical Bible-thumpers".<ref>{{cite web|author=Andréa Fernandes |url=http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22639 |title=mental_floss Blog » Iconic America: Grant Wood |publisher=Mentalfloss.com |date= |accessdate=2010-04-12}}</ref> One farmwife threatened to bite Wood's ear off. Wood protested that he had not painted a caricature of Iowans but a depiction of Americans. Nan, apparently embarrassed at being depicted as the wife of someone twice her age, began telling people that the painting was of a man and his daughter,<ref name="fineman"/> which Grant seems to confirm in a letter written by him to a Mrs. Nellie Sudduth in 1941.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campsilos.org/mod2/students/wood_letter.htm |title=Grant Wood's Letter Describing American Gothic |publisher=Campsilos.org |date= |accessdate=2010-04-12}}</ref> |
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Art critics who had favorable opinions about the painting, such as [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Christopher Morley]], also assumed the painting was meant to be a satire of rural small-town life. It was thus seen as part of the trend toward increasingly critical depictions of rural America, along the lines of [[Sherwood Anderson]]'s 1919 ''[[Winesburg, Ohio (novel)|Winesburg, Ohio]]'', [[Sinclair Lewis]]'s 1920 ''[[Main Street (novel)|Main Street]]'', and [[Carl Van Vechten]]'s 1924 ''[[The Tattooed Countess]]'' in literature.<ref name="fineman"/> |
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Yet another interpretation sees it as an "old-fashioned mourning portrait... Tellingly, the curtains hanging in the windows of the house, both upstairs and down, are pulled closed in the middle of the day, a mourning custom in Victorian America. The woman wears a black dress beneath her apron, and glances away as if holding back tears. One imagines she is grieving for the man beside her..." Wood had been only 10 when his father had died and later had lived for a decade "above a garage reserved for hearses" so death was on his mind.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/books/review/Solomon-t.html |date=October 28, 2010 |title=Gothic American |author=Deborah Solomon}}</ref> |
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However, with the onset of the [[Great Depression]], the painting came to be seen as a depiction of steadfast [[American pioneer spirit]]. Wood assisted this transition by renouncing his Bohemian youth in [[Paris]] and grouping himself with populist Midwestern painters, such as [[John Steuart Curry]] and [[Thomas Hart Benton (painter)|Thomas Hart Benton]], who revolted against the dominance of East Coast art circles. Wood was quoted in this period as stating, "All the good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow."<ref name="fineman"/> |
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==Parodies==<!--Do not add every single reference or parody of the painting. This is meant to describe its use in media, so only the most notable examples are necessary.--> |
==Parodies==<!--Do not add every single reference or parody of the painting. This is meant to describe its use in media, so only the most notable examples are necessary.--> |
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Revision as of 13:42, 12 October 2012
| American Gothic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Grant Wood |
| Year | 1930 |
| Type | Oil on beaverboard |
| Location | Art Institute of Chicago |
American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood's inspiration came from the American Gothic House and a decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."[1] The painting shows a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter.[2] The figures were modeled by the artist's sister and their dentist. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 19th-century Americana, and the couple are in the traditional roles of men and women, the man's pitchfork symbolizing hard labor, and the flowers over the woman's right shoulder suggesting domesticity.
It is one of the most familiar images in 20th-century American art, and one of the most parodied artworks within American popular culture.
Creation
In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed the Dibble House, a small white house built in the Carpenter Gothic architectural style in Eldon, Iowa. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."[1] He recruited his sister Nan (1899–1990) to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th-century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the Gothic window of the house and the structure of the man's face. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house.
They had ALOT of Spare time because there parents beat them and there dog often rejected them.
Parodies
The Depression-era understanding of the painting as a depiction of an authentically American scene prompted the first well-known parody, a 1942 photo by Gordon Parks of cleaning woman Ella Watson, shot in Washington, D.C.[1]
American Gothic is one of the few paintings to achieve iconic cultural status, along with Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch's The Scream.[1] It is thus one of the most reproduced – and parodied – images ever. Many artists have replaced the two people with other known couples and replaced the house with well known houses.
References and parodies of the image have been numerous for generations, appearing regularly in such media as postcards, magazines, animated cartoons, advertisements, comic books, album covers, television shows and other artists, such as Tony Julianos parody, "American Goths" which depicts goth teens instead of the traditional farmers. The opening credits of the 1965 television show Green Acres had the main couple in an American Gothic-style pose; cinematic posters of the films For Richer or Poorer, Son In Law, American Gothic, and Good Fences parody the painting. It is also a key motif in Anthony Weigh's play 2,000 Feet Away, which opens with a scene featuring the painting at the Art Institute.
A sculpture entitled "God Bless America" that features the American Gothic couple went on display in Chicago, Illinois, just south of the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue, in December 2008 but has been removed as of February 26, 2010.[3] Postcards mimicking the couple with sitting US Presidents, Presidential nominees, and their spouses are popular commercial products. Ohio State Buckeyes football games feature the painting on their scoreboard; within a few seconds of its display, the man's eyes bug out and his tongue wags.
A 1963 Saturday Evening Post cover featured the cast of The Beverly Hillbillies in a parody of American Gothic with Irene Ryan and Buddy Ebsen posing like the 2 people in the painting flanked by Max Baer and Donna Douglas at their sides.
David Ackles borrowed the title for his 1973 American Gothic album, as did The Smashing Pumpkins for their 2008 EP American Gothic and a 1995 television horror series created by Shaun Cassidy. Elton John and RuPaul portray the couple on the video for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". Astrovamps parodied the painting on the cover of their album, American Gothik. The Ma and Pa couple at the beginning of the Doctor Who episode "Gridlock" are fashioned in the style of the couple in the painting. The American Gothic couple have even been reinterpreted as Living Dead Dolls twice, in 2004 and 2009.[4]
In the opening scene of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn appear as a farmer and his wife in parody of American Gothic. They are joined by a daughter dressed in the same fashion.
One scene in episode 7 of season 6 of Dexter features an advert for a lawn mower of the Carpenter Gothic house from the original painting which Dexter and his partner stand in front of after committing murder with a pitchfork. Dexter holds the blood dripping pitchfork in the same manner as the original painting.
The painting was also parodied in a classic commercial for "New Country Corn Flakes", a General Mills product.[5]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d Fineman, Mia, The Most Famous Farm Couple in the World: Why American Gothic still fascinates., Slate, 8 June 2005
- ^ "About This Artwork: American Gothic". The Art Institute of Chicago. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Public Art in Chicago: God Bless America". Chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com. 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ Cochran, Jay; Living Dead Dolls Presents American Gothic Return To Spencers!, 2009-09-19. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
- ^ "New Country Corn Flakes TV Commercial". LikeTelevision. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
Bibliography
- Steven Biel (2005). American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-05912-X.
External links
- Grant Wood and Frank Lloyd Wright Compared
- About the painting, on the Art Institute's site
- Slate article about American Gothic
- American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting
- November 18, 2002, National Public Radio “Morning Edition” report about “American Gothic” by Melissa Gray that includes an interview with Art Institute of Chicago curator Daniel Schulman.
- June 6, 1991, National Public Radio “Morning Edition” report on Iowa's celebration of the centennial of Grant Wood's birth by Robin Feinsmith. Several portions of the report focus on “American Gothic”.
- February 13, 1976, National Public Radio “All Things Considered” Cary Frumpkin interview with James Dennis, author of Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture. The interview contains a discussion about "American Gothic".
- American Gothic House Center site
- Television Commercials (1950s-1960s) contains General Mills New Country Corn Flakes commercial
- American Gothic sculpture removed from Michigan Avenue
- American Gothic Parodies collection