Painting "American Gothic" (Wood Grant)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Many geniuses and creators in the field of art are not recognized by critics and society during their lifetime. Years later, they begin to understand and feel, firmly believing that the artist or poet had his own special view of things. That's when they begin to admire, ranking among the incredibly talented people of their era. This is exactly what happened to Wood Grant, who almost a hundred years ago portrayed his vision of the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the New World in the painting "American Gothic". He was quite a complex artist, with his own character and style.

A couple of words about the artist's childhood

Many critics and experts in the field of art believe that before analyzing the picture, especially the one that caused a huge public outcry, it is necessary to study the creator of the masterpiece a little. It needs to be done just to understandmotives or message of the artist. Speaking about Wood Grant, whose painting "American Gothic" still causes controversy and certain disagreements among the experts of the world, it is worth saying that his early years were unremarkable.

He was born on a small agricultural farm on the very outskirts of Iowa, the same one in America. In addition to him, there were two more boys and a girl in the family. The father of the family was distinguished by a quick temper and strictness. He passed away quite early. Grant had a close and trusting relationship with his mother, perhaps because of this he grew up to be very sensitive, vulnerable and the most talented of all the children in the family.

Unrecognized genius

Growing up and choosing an artistic path for himself, Grant painted a sufficient number of paintings, but his work was not appreciated properly. He was not recognized in art, often without even taking his work seriously.

About the time the picture was painted

"American Gothic" by American artist Grant Wood was painted in 1930. This time was quite difficult for a number of reasons:

1. Firstly, in 1929, the economic crisis began in America, which, by the way, did not in the least interfere with the rapid steps of the state in the field of construction and industry. New, hitherto unknown high-rise buildings were erected in the country. It was a period of novelty and technology.
2. Second, all over the world the samerapidly, like industry, fascism was gaining momentum. The new trend and ideology of Adolf Hitler became stronger in the minds of people who aspired to a perfect future.
3. In this list, perhaps, it is worth adding another fact that concerns the artist himself personally. Wood Grant by that time had already lived for a sufficient amount of time in France and German Munich. Some critics felt that these wanderings around the world added a lot to the picture of "American Gothic" from the European way of life.

After all of the above, you can try to get some idea about the artist, about his character and life. Well, when this is done, it is worth transgressing directly to the analysis of the painting "American Gothic".

It's all about the details

A canvas can only be analyzed if it is described in detail. So, in the foreground two people are depicted: a woman and a man who, apparently, is much older than her. Wood Grant has repeatedly said that he tried to show the father with his daughter, but it is known for certain that he portrayed his own sister and dentist Byron McKeeby. According to the artist, the latter was distinguished by a rather cheerful disposition. True, in the painting "American Gothic" he appears as a restrained person, if not harsh. His gaze is directed straight into the eyes of the person looking at the canvas, and it is impossible to understand what will happen next: whether he will smile, or get angry. His face is drawn in such detail thatyou can make out every wrinkle that abounds on it.

The woman's gaze is directed to the side, somewhere outside the picture. A man and his daughter stand in the center, with the woman holding the older man's arm. He has a pitchfork in his hands, pointing upwards with its tips, which he holds with a fairly strong grip. The people depicted by Wood Grant seem to be trying to protect their home against which they are drawn.

The house is an old American style building. Another nuance that is revealed upon closer examination: everything in the picture is made by human hands: the man’s shirt, the woman’s apron, and, by the way, the mansard roof.

If you pay attention to the background of the picture "American Gothic", it seems that Grant Wood did not pay due attention to it. Trees are presented in the form of geometric figures and they are absolutely not drawn, generalized. By the way, if you look closely, there is a lot of geometry in the picture: a triangular roof, straight lines of windows, pitchforks that echo the piping on the man's shirt.

The tone in which the canvas is written can be described as quite calm. Perhaps this is the whole description of the painting "American Gothic", from which it becomes clear why many Americans saw themselves in it: almost all families living both on the west and on the east coast of the mainland had such houses.

Society assessment

The painting "American Gothic" made a splash. Somebodywas delighted, but there were also dissatisfied. Residents of Iowa considered such a depiction of their way of life a mockery of the artist, and one lady even threatened to physically harm Grant Wood. She promised to bite off his ear. Many people accused the artist of antipathy to everything new, calling him a conservative and a hypocrite, because he depicted an old house on the threshold of a new civilization. The artist himself once said about his painting: "I tried to portray these people as they were for me in the life that I knew…".

A century later

It is worth noting that after a while the picture is still at the peak of popularity. They make parodies of her, they admire her, they do not understand her. But all this did not in the least prevent "American Gothic" from becoming a kind of symbol of the way of life of those years. Nearly a century later, critics could see in it the unwavering spirit of American pioneers. Well, the last thing that needs to be mentioned: Grant Wood was able to "hook" a huge number of people with his masterpiece, forcing the public to discuss, argue about the painting "American Gothic".