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-{{Other uses}}
-{{Infobox Painting
-| image_file=Grant Wood - American Gothic - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=Man and woman with stern expession stand side-by-side. The man holds a pitch fork.
-| image_size = 250px
-| title=American Gothic
-| artist=[[Grant Wood]]
-| year=1930
-| type=[[Oil painting|Oil]] on [[beaverboard]]
-| height_metric=74.3
-| width_metric=62.4
-| height_imperial=29¼
-| width_imperial=24½
-| museum=[[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 what is now known as the [[American Gothic House]], and his decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."<ref name=fineman>Fineman, Mia, [http://www.slate.com/id/2120494/ The Most Famous Farm Couple in the World: Why American Gothic still fascinates.], ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', 8 June 2005</ref> The painting shows a farmer standing beside his [[spinster]] daughter.<ref name="about">{{cite web | title=About This Artwork: American Gothic | url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/6565 | publisher=The Art Institute of Chicago | accessdate=June 20, 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100528093948/http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/6565| archivedate= 28 May 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> The figures were modeled by the artist's sister and their dentist. The woman is dressed in a [[Colonial history of the United States|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 [[Visual art of the United States|American art]],<ref name="fineman"/> and has been widely parodied in American [[popular culture]].
-==Creation==
-In August 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, was driven around [[Eldon, Iowa]] by a young painter from Eldon, John Sharp, looking for inspiration{{who|date=February 2014}}. Wood noticed [[American Gothic House|the Dibble House]], a small white house built in the [[Carpenter Gothic]] architectural style.<ref name="AGHC"/> Sharp's brother suggested in 1973 that it was on this drive that Wood first sketched the house on the back of an envelope. Wood's earliest biographer, Darrell Garwood, noted that Wood "thought it a form of borrowed pretentiousness, a structural absurdity, to put a Gothic-style window in such a flimsy frame house."<ref name = "Garwood">[[#Garwood|Garwood]], p. 119</ref> At the time, Wood classified it as one of the "cardboardy {{sic}} frame houses on Iowa farms" and considered it "very paintable".<ref name="Hoving">Qtd. in [[#Hoving|Hoving]], p. 36</ref> After obtaining permission from the Jones family, the house's owners, Wood made a sketch the next day in oil on paperboard from the house's front yard. This sketch displayed a steeper roof and a longer window with a more pronounced [[ogive]] than on the actual house, features which eventually adorned the final work.
-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,<ref name=latimes>{{cite news|last=Semuels|first=Alana|title=At Home in a Piece of History|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/30/business/la-fi-gothic-house-20120501|accessdate=February 25, 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 30, 2012}}</ref> dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th-century [[Americana]]. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist,<ref name = latimes/> Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950) from [[Cedar Rapids, Iowa]].<ref>{{Find a Grave|34234004|Dr Byron H. McKeeby}}</ref> The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the [[Gothic architecture in art|Gothic window]] of the house, and the structure of the man's face.<ref name="smarth">{{cite web | title =Grant Wood's American Gothic|publisher =Smarthistory at Khan Academy | date = | url =http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/american-regionalism-grant-woods-american-gothic.html | accessdate =December 18, 2012}}</ref> However, Wood did not add figures to his sketch until he returned to his studio in Cedar Rapids.<ref name="Biel3">Qtd. in [[#Biel|Biel]], p. 22</ref> He would not return to Eldon again before his death in 1942, although he did request a photograph of the home to complete his painting.<ref name="AGHC">{{cite web|url=http://www.wapellocounty.org/americangothic/index.htm|title=American Gothic House Center|publisher=[[Wapello County, Iowa|Wapello County]] Conservation Board|accessdate=July 14, 2009| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20090618032007/http://www.wapellocounty.org/americangothic/index.htm| archivedate= June 18, 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
-==Reception==
-[[File:Grant Wood.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Grant Wood, Self-portrait'', 1932, [[Figge Art Museum]]]]
-Wood entered the painting in a competition at the [[Art Institute of Chicago]]. The judges deemed it a "comic valentine", but a museum patron persuaded them to award the painting the bronze medal and $300 cash prize. The patron also persuaded 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 |accessdate=2010-04-12}}</ref> Wood protested that he had not painted a caricature of Iowans but a depiction of his appreciation, stating "I had to go to France to appreciate Iowa."<ref name = latimes/> 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 his letter 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 |accessdate=2010-04-12}}</ref>
-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"/>
-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>
-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"/>
-==Parodies==
-<!--Please '''include a citation''' for everything added to this section. 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.-->
-[[File:Gordon Parks - American Gothic.jpg|alt=Man holding up a broom and mop with an American flag hanging in the background, in imitation of the original American gothic.|thumb|right|upright|''American Gothic, Washington, D.C.'' (1942) by [[Gordon Parks]] was the first prominent parody of the painting.]]
-[[File:American Gothic Dress-Up.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=visitor's wearing period-style clothing, and with props such as a pitchfork and glasses|Visitors dressing up and taking their photograph outside the house.]]
-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.]]<ref name="fineman"/>
-''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]]''.<ref name="fineman"/> It is thus one of the most reproduced – and [[parody|parodied]] – images ever made. 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 [[postcard]]s, [[magazine]]s, [[animated cartoons]], [[advertisement]]s, [[comic book]]s, [[album cover]]s, [[television show]]s and other [[artist]]s. 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 (film)|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. The painting was also parodied in a classic commercial for "New Country Corn Flakes", a [[General Mills]] product.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Country Corn Flakes TV Commercial|url=http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=1024&format=tv&theme=guide|publisher=LikeTelevision|accessdate=28 April 2012}}</ref>
-A sculpture entitled "God Bless America" by sculptor [[John Seward Johnson II]] 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 (Chicago)|Michigan Avenue]], in December 2008 but has been removed as of February 26, 2010. The sculpture was displayed in Dubuque, Iowa at the Figge Art Museum and is now on the campus of Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa until at least December 31, 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com/2008/12/god-bless-america.html |title=Public Art in Chicago: God Bless America |publisher=Chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com |date=2008-12-11 |accessdate=2010-04-12}}</ref> [[Postcard]]s mimicking the couple with sitting [[President of the United States|US President]]s, [[Presidential nominee]]s, 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, Jr.|Max Baer]]'' and ''[[Donna Douglas]]'' at their sides.
-[[David Ackles]] borrowed the title for his 1973 ''[[American Gothic (album)|American Gothic]]'' album, as did [[The Smashing Pumpkins]] for their 2008 EP ''[[American Gothic (EP)|American Gothic]]'' and a 1995 television horror series created by [[Shaun Cassidy]]. [[Elton John]] and [[RuPaul]] portray the couple on the video for a rerecording of "[[Don't Go Breaking My Heart]]" released in 1994. [[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 (Doctor Who)|Gridlock]]" are fashioned in the style of the couple in the painting. The ''American Gothic'' couple have even been reinterpreted as [[Living Dead Dolls#Living Dead Dolls Presents|Living Dead Dolls]] twice, in 2004 and 2009.<ref>Cochran, Jay; [http://toynewsi.com/index.php?itemid=14936 Living Dead Dolls Presents American Gothic Return To Spencers!], 2009-09-19. Retrieved 2010-02-07.</ref>
-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. The painting is also seen on the wall in the castle during the song "[[Time Warp (song)|Time Warp]]" as well as it is seen in the sequel ''[[Shock Treatment]]''
-In the episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', "[[Bart Gets an Elephant]]", the Simpsons are revealed to evidently have the original ''American Gothic'' painting hanging on their living room wall. Bart unwittingly scrubs it while cleaning the house, and rubs off all the paint. Underneath, it reads "If you can read this, you scrubbed too hard. Signed, Grant Wood."
-In the scene where Mulan's ancestors awaken Mushu in ''[[Mulan]]'', two of the ancestors appear as a parody of the farmer and his daughter, representing traditional values.
-The painting and its process of creation was parodied in a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' episode, which aired November 10, 2012, with host [[Anne Hathaway]] as Nan Wood Graham, [[Jason Sudeikis]] as Dr. Byron McKeeby, [[Tarran Killam]] as Grant Wood, and [[Kenan Thompson]] as a tour guide at The Art Institute of Chicago.<ref>[http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/american-gothic/1423665/ ''Saturday Night Live'' Video, American Gothic], [[NBC]] Retrieved 2012-11-18</ref>
-In season 6 episode 7 of the Showtime series ''Dexter'' entitled ''Nebraska'', Dexter Morgan and his brother Brian Moser parody the painting by standing next to each other in front of a picture of the Dibble House while Dexter is holding a pitch fork.
-==See also==
-* [[Protestant work ethic]]
-* [[Southern Gothic]]
-==References==
-{{Reflist|30em}}
-==Works==
-*{{cite book|title=American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting|author=Steven Biel|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=0-393-05912-X|ref=Biel}}
-* {{cite book|last=Garwood|first=Darrell|title=Artist in Iowa: A Life of Grant Wood|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=New York|year=1944|oclc=518305|ref=Garwood}}
-* {{cite book |title=American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece|last=Hoving|first=Thomas|year=2005|location=New York|publisher=Chamberlain Bros|isbn=1-59609-148-7|ref=Hoving}}
-* André Girod: American Gothic, l'Harmattan, Paris 2014
-==External links==
-{{external media | width = 210px | align = right |headerimage=[[File:2007-06-04-Gothic House.jpg|210px]] | video1 =[http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/american-regionalism-grant-woods-american-gothic.html Smarthistory - Grant Wood's American Gothic]| video2 =[http://www.wapellocounty.org/americangothic/index.htm American Gothic House]}}
-*[http://www.bobolinkbooks.com/DesignHist/WoodWright.html Grant Wood and Frank Lloyd Wright Compared]
-*[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/Modern/American-Gothic About the painting, on the Art Institute's site]
-*[http://slate.msn.com/id/2120494/ Slate article about American Gothic]
-*[http://www.usa-decouverte.com/culture/magazine/grant_wood.html American Gothic, French]
-*[http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=8027 American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting]
-*[http://www.archive.org/details/Televisi1960 Television Commercials (1950s-1960s)] contains General Mills New Country Corn Flakes commercial
-*[http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/american-gothic-statue-removed-from-plaza.html American Gothic sculpture removed from Michigan Avenue]
-*[http://americangothicparodies.blogspot.com/ American Gothic Parodies collection]
-*[http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/americangothic/ 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 (curator)|Daniel Schulman]].
-*[http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/americangothic/ 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”.
-*[http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/americangothic/ 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".
-[[Category:American paintings]]
-[[Category:Iowa culture]]
-[[Category:Modern paintings]]
-[[Category:Paintings of the Art Institute of Chicago]]
-[[Category:1930 paintings]]

Revision as of 13:55, 28 October 2014