For this week on Monday Muse, we are going to look at one of the most iconic pieces of art in American history. American Gothic was painted in 1930 by Grant Wood, and is housed in the Art Institute of Chicago. It is one of the country’s most recognized paintings, and features a serious looking man (with pitchfork in hand) and a woman facing straight at the viewer.
Grant Wood was part of the American Regionalism movement which often depicted the stories of average people that highlighted Midwestern American life. Wood was born in rural Iowa; the painting got its beginnings while Wood was on a trip to Eldon, Iowa where he first saw the house in the background. He was intrigued by the gothic windows which seemed out of place in relation to the scene. After getting permission from the owners, he sketched the house.
The man and the woman in the painting are the source of a great deal of speculation, confusion, and interest. They are actually his sister and the family dentist; they posed separately and he finished the painting in his studio rather than in front of the house. The biggest issue concerning the painting seems to be the relationship between the two figures considering the age differences. Some feel that it depicts a father and daughter, while others feel it’s a husband and wife.
Wood said, “the idea was to find two people who, by their severely strait-laced characters, would fit into such a home. I looked about among the folks I knew around my hometown, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but could find none among the farmers – for the cottage was to be a farmer’s home. I finally induced my own maiden sister to pose, and had her comb her hair straight down her ears, with a severely straight part 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.”
Wood later changed part of the story and said that the couple was father and daughter. There is a rumor that his sister wanted him to change the story. She apparently disliked the idea of being married and especially to someone so much older.
The painting was an immediate success which led to debates over the meaning behind the painting. Some critics believed it was a satirical look at small town America, while others took offense of the large difference in age between the two figures. Despite the early criticism and the struggles during the Great Depression, it became a celebration of the hard working values of the rural Midwest, and continues to be perhaps the most well known American painting.