Grant Wood's American Gothic Explained : The Story behind Great Paintings

hello my name is paul priestley welcome to artist in school the home of art history for everyone the masterpiece i shall be discussing today will be grant woods american gothic an iconic american painting of the rural midwest but the question is is it a satire or a positive statement of american rural life grant woods painting american gothic is a relatively small painting measuring 78 by 65 centimeters it's an oil painting painted on beaver board a type of fiber board formed by compressing wood fiber into sheets the painting was inspired by a visit to eldon in iowa usa and was completed in 1930 its style is heavily influenced by the flemish renaissance painters such as gian van ike american gothic became the masterpiece of a new style of painting associated with midwest america in the 1930s it was known as regionalism which had been named and promoted by maynard walker an art dealer from kansas [Music] grant wood was born on his parents farm outside anamosa in iowa on the 13th of february 1891. the idyllic rural setting had a profound effect on wood and greatly influenced his later paintings around 1901 after his father died the family moved to cedar rapids in 1910 wood attended the minneapolis school of design and handicraft and learnt to work with metal and jewelry as well as build furniture during the 1920s wood traveled to europe and visited museums in france and italy he studied at the academy julienne in paris and returned to the usa inspired by impressionism but by 1928 he'd made a trip to munich in germany and saw the paintings of 15th and 16th century german and flemish masters he was amazed at their realism and attention to detail impressionism was abandoned and american gothic was the result of this new found passion the painting brought him almost instant fame and provided him with the platform to promote regionalism to new aspiring artists however the rise of abstraction in the 1940s led to a decline in interest in woods work and he died of cancer in 1942 age 50. american gothic was first exhibited at the 43rd annual exhibition of american painting and sculpture at the institute of chicago in october 1930 the painting was awarded a bronze medal and wood received a prize of 300 and not inconsiderable sum for a struggling artist in november of that year the painting was acquired by the art interest institute of chicago grant woods said he painted american gothic to extol rural american values real people in their well-ordered world an image of reassurance during the onset of the great depression yet many critics including gertrude stein had a different view she wrote we should fear grant wood every artist and every school of artists should be afraid of him for his devastating satire i wonder which view you will support let us look at the painting and see what you think [Music] in the summer of 1930 grant wood visited eldon iowa usa to attend an art exhibition during his visit he saw a little white cottage with a carpenter gothic window as he called it on the second floor he thought the window which reminded him of those he had seen on many cathedrals in europe a little bit pretentious for such a small house nevertheless he sketched the house on an envelope and this sketch became the inspiration for his painting grant wood said the idea was to find two people who would fit into such a home i looked among the folks i knew around my home town of cedar rapids but could find none among the farmers i finally persuaded my own maiden sister to pose and had her coma hair straight down her ears with a severely plain parting in the middle the next job was to find a man to represent the husband my quest finally narrowed down to the local dentist who reluctantly consented to pose he posed the two rigidly in front of the house much like the figures he had seen in flemish renaissance art he painted the picture more in the style of van ike rather than the impressionism of claude monet that he had used to create earlier works the two models didn't pose together but were painted in separate sessions originally wood had referred to the people in the painting as husband and wife but his sister apparently objected to being married to an older man even in a painting so the couple became father and daughter wood's version of nan's dress being ordered from a chicago mail order firm differs to what nan later recalled she said her brother asked for a trim that was out of style so i ripped some of my mother's old dresses and after the painting made its debut rickrack made a comeback the brooch that nunn wears belonged to hattie his mother and can be seen in woods painting of his mother woman with plants pattern and shape are important elements in the painting the hay fork which was a rake in an earlier drawing of the composition has been endlessly speculated upon wood never mentioned it but he obviously thought the shape was important enough to repeat it in the stitching on the male figures bib overalls it also functions compositionally as it mirrors upside down the shape of the paints of glass in the upstairs window patterns also tie other parts of the composition together notice the pattern on the curtains in the upstairs window is a similar pattern to that on the woman's apron notice also that despite the detail used to create other elements of the painting realistically the curtain and the apron are just flat pattern the repetition of vertical lines is another pattern element of the painting particularly visible in the hay fork the white shirt overalls the batons on the house and the barn in the background perhaps this emphasizes the upright character of the individuals grant wood intended the painting to be a positive statement about rural american values the man and woman in their solid and well-crafted world with all their strengths and weaknesses represents survivors in a time of strife yet locals objected to it an iowan farmer's wife who'd seen the picture in the papers in 1930 telephoned wood to express her anger she claimed she wished to come over and smash his head for depicting her countrymen as grim bible thumpers wood continually protested that the painting was not a caricature but he fueled the controversy by continually dressing in rugged overalls after the painting was completed and telling the press all the good ideas that i've ever had come to me while i was milking a cow yet he was no farmer and was apparently repelled by livestock grant wood signed and dated the painting here on the denim overalls it is almost hidden american gothic inspired the regionalism movement and has become one of america's most famous paintings america's equivalent of the mona lisa is now firmly entrenched in that nation's popular culture the painting is soundly structured and yet open to interpretation which gives the painting its power and like the mona lisa political gurus marketing satirists continue to exploit its popularity and power for their own ends in 2017 in an article by annabelle sheen for the royal academy in london american gothic was included in the top 10 of the most parodied paintings of all time thank you for watching i hope you've learned lots about grant woods painting american gothic if you have i'd really appreciate it if you could subscribe to my channel and click the little black belt so you'll get notification of my new videos if you'd like to support the production of these videos then please check out my patreon channel where you'll find lots of interesting rewards in return for your patronage that would be wonderful i'll see you in the next video goodbye

Channel: Art History School

Views: 56,274

Keywords: Grant Wood, Byron McKeeby, American Gothic, american gothic painting, american regionalism, Nan Wood, artist in school, Paul Priestley, art history, american art, famous artists, history of art, famous paintings, Cedar Rapids, Cedar rapids museum of art, painter, regionalism, Iowa, carpenter gothic, Beaver board, Minneapolis School of Design, mid-west America, rural, 1930's, flemish Renaissance painters, art institute of chicago, american painter, American artist

Id: T7wM5VQQnys

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 12 2020