“American Gothic” is a famous painting by American artist Grant DeVolson Wood, created in 1930. One of the most recognizable images in American art of the 20th century, on a par with “Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci and “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, and, concurrently, the object of a colossal number of parodies and projections, the most famous artistic meme of the 20th and 21st centuries. In Russia, oddly enough, it is not as popular as throughout the world.

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The plot of the picture and the history of creation

The painting depicts farmers, a man and a girl, against the backdrop of a house built in the Carpenter Gothic style (early neo-Gothic). The farmer has a pitchfork in his hand, which he holds in a clenched fist like a weapon. He also has tightly compressed lips and a heavy gaze, the seams on his clothes follow the outline of a pitchfork, the same outline can be seen in the windows of the house in the background. His elbow is exposed in front of the girl - perhaps his wife, but more likely his daughter, whose head is turned towards her father, and an expression of resentment and indignation is frozen on her gloomy face. A very unattractive couple, in whose steadfastness and puritanical restraint one can discern the hidden threat and drama of the relationship.

The painting was painted in 1930 in the city of Eldon, Iowa - Wood once noticed a small white house and wanted to depict it and the people who could live in it. The model for the farmer's daughter was the artist's sister Nan, and the "farmer" was Wood's dentist, Byron McKeeby. Wood painted the house and people separately, the scene as we see it in the picture never happened in reality.

Nan and Byron McKeeby

The painting was soon acquired by the Wood Art Institute of Chicago (where it remains to this day), and after the reproduction appeared in the newspaper, a negative public reaction followed. Iowans were angry at the way the artist depicted them. One farmer even threatened to bite off Voodoo's ear. Grant Wood justified himself that he did not want to make a caricature of Iowans, but a collective portrait of Americans. Wood’s sister, offended that in the painting she could be mistaken for the wife of a man twice her age, began to argue that “American Gothic” depicts a father and daughter, but Wood himself did not comment on this point.

One of the first parodies, the work of photographer Gordon Parks

Photobooths

The work is talented, multifaceted and ambiguous; in terms of the number of copies, parodies and allusions in popular culture, little can compare with “American Gothic”.

“American Gothic” is a painting by American artist Grant Wood (1891-1942), known mainly for paintings dedicated to rural life in the American Midwest. The painting was created in 1930. It became one of the most recognizable and famous paintings in American art of the 20th century.
In terms of the number of copies, parodies and allusions in popular culture, “American Gothic” stands alongside such masterpieces as “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci and “The Scream” by Edvard Munch.

The painting depicts a farmer and his daughter against the backdrop of a house built in the Carpenter Gothic style. In the farmer's right hand is a pitchfork, which he holds in a tightly clenched fist, just like holding a weapon.
Wood managed to convey the unattractiveness of the father and daughter - tightly compressed lips and the heavy defiant gaze of the father, his elbow exposed in front of his daughter, her pulled hair with only one loose curl, her head and eyes slightly turned towards her father, full of resentment or indignation. The daughter is wearing an apron that has already gone out of fashion.

According to the recollections of the artist’s sister, at his request, she sewed a characteristic edging onto the apron, taking it from her mother’s old clothes. An apron with the same edging is found in another painting by Wood - “Woman with Plants” - a portrait of the artist’s mother
The seams on the farmer's clothes resemble the pitchfork in his hand. The outline of a pitchfork can also be seen in the windows of the house in the background. Behind the woman are pots of flowers and a church spire in the distance, and behind the man is a barn. The composition of the painting is reminiscent of American photographs of the late 19th century.
The puritanical restraint of the characters is in many ways consistent with the realism characteristic of the 1920s European New Materiality movement, which Wood became acquainted with during a trip to Munich.

In 1930, in Eldon, Iowa, Grant Wood noticed a small white house in the Carpenter Gothic style. He wanted to depict this house and the people who, in his opinion, could live in it. The artist's sister Nan served as a model for the farmer's daughter, and Byron McKeeby, the artist's dentist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, became the model for the farmer himself. Wood painted the house and people separately, the scene as we see it in the picture never happened in reality.

Wood entered "American Gothic" into competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The judges praised it as a “humorous valentine,” but the museum curator convinced them to give the author a $300 prize and persuaded the Art Institute to purchase the painting, where it remains to this day. Soon the picture was published in newspapers in Chicago, New York, Boston, Kansas City and Indianapolis.

However, after publication in a Cedar Rapids newspaper, there was a negative reaction. Iowans were angry at the way the artist depicted them. One farmer even threatened to bite off Voodoo's ear. Grant Wood justified himself that he did not want to make a caricature of Iowans, but a collective portrait of Americans. Wood’s sister, offended that in the painting she could be mistaken for the wife of a man twice her age, began to argue that “American Gothic” depicts a father and daughter, but Wood himself did not comment on this point.

Critics such as Gertrude Stein and Christopher Morley believed that the film was a satire of rural life in small American towns. “American Gothic” was part of a growing trend at that time in the critical depiction of rural America, which was also reflected in the books “Winesburg, Ohio” by Sherwood Anderson, “Main Street” by Sinclair Lewis and others. On the other hand, Wood was also accused of idealizing antipathy to civilization and denial of progress, urbanization.

However, during the Great Depression, attitudes towards the painting changed. It came to be seen as a portrayal of the unwavering spirit of the American pioneers.
“All my paintings initially appear as abstractions. When a suitable design appears in my head, I carefully begin to give the conceived model a resemblance to nature. However, I am so afraid of being photographic that, apparently, I stop too early” G. WOOD.

Wood is one of the leading representatives of the movement in American painting called "regionalism". Regionalist artists sought to create truly American art as a counterweight to European avant-garde movements, promoting the idea of ​​national independence and cultural identity of America.

Text with illustrations http://maxpark.com/community/6782/content/1914271

Reviews

The picture is very, very ambiguous, and the fact that Americans quite sincerely love it is a manifestation of this. At first glance, this is a caricature (the “idiotic” faces of the couple, etc.). But: a caricature of whom? For farmers? But the farming class is the backbone, the core of American society. Americans will not laugh at the farmer. On the eve of the Civil War, slave-owning planters in the South were proud of the fact that they could plow and do other field work themselves.

This is probably why it became a symbol of the Americans. Perhaps this is not entirely clear to us. But each country has its own history and its own priorities. At one time it became a reflection of the invincible spirit of the Americans. Sometimes the picture is criticized, and then it becomes popular.

Grant DeVolson Wood (1891-1942)- famous American realist artist, or in other words - regionalist. He gained wide fame due to his paintings dedicated to rural life in the American Midwest.

To begin with, a little about the artist himself. Grant was born into a farmer's family in a small town in Iowa. Unfortunately, for a long time he could not paint. His Quaker father - that is, a member of a religious Christian sect - had a biased negative attitude towards art. It was only after his death that Wood was able to take up painting. He entered the School of the Arts at the University of Chicago. Then he made four trips to Europe, where he studied various directions for a long time.

His first works belonged to impressionism and post-impressionism. The most famous of them are Grandmother's house inhabit a forest, 1926 and The Bay of Naples's View, 1925.

Two completely different works, impeccably executed in the presented style. If “Grandma’s House in the Forest” is written in a sand color scheme and is filled with light and warmth, then the second landscape literally emanates coldness. The canvas, which the master painted in dark colors - black, blue and dark green - depicts trees bent by the wind. Perhaps, like other authors who paint in the post-impressionist style and strive to depict the monumentality of things, Wood wanted to show the greatness of the storm, before which even the trees bow.

A little later, the artist became acquainted with the paintings of German and Flemish masters of the 16th century. It was then that Wood began to paint realistic, and in some places even exaggeratedly realistic, landscapes and portraits. Regionalism, which the master turned to, is a direction whose main idea is an artistic work of the “essence” of an ethnocultural region. In Russia there is an analogue of this term - “localism” or “pochvennichestvo”.

Many people probably associate the image of rural life in the American Midwest with the famous portrait of a woman and a man with a pitchfork standing in front of a house. And not in vain, because it was Grant Wood who wrote this famous painting - “American Gothic” (American Gothic, 1930). It is unlikely that the artist could have imagined that his work would become one of the most recognizable and parodied in American art.

And it all started with a small white house in the Carpenter Gothic style, which he saw in the city of Eldon. Grant wanted to depict it and the people who might live there. The prototype of the farmer's daughter was his sister Nan, and the model for the farmer himself was the dentist Byron McKeeby. The portrait was entered into competition at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it remains to this day.

The Middle Ages were the time of the Crusades, the dominance of religion over secular life, a turning point in the development of European countries. Against the backdrop of political and military transformations, a recognizable, vibrant style was formed - Gothic, which influenced the development of painting, architecture, music, and sculpture.

Origin and development of style

The period of formation of the style was the developed Middle Ages, the 12th century in Western Europe, and the 13th – 16th centuries in Central Europe. The grandeur of the style borders on the intimidation that the works of painters and architects of this period can evoke.

Gothic painting is distinguished by a specific composition, an abundance of colors and shades, dynamic images, and intense plot.

As part of the study of the works of painters, it is worth considering book miniatures as a representative direction in art.
The birthplace of the style is France, where in the 12th century. From there, Gothic spread to Germany, Spain, England, and Austria. In the next century, Gothic influences became noticeable in Italy, where a local, distinctive offshoot of the style emerged. During the early modern period, the style took shape in an international format. The Gothic influences were most noticeable in Eastern European countries.

Imprimatura in painting

Features of style at an early stage of development

Gothic replaced the Romanesque style - it is difficult not to notice the fundamental differences between these art movements. In art, Gothic is associated with greatness, grandeur, and special decorativeness.
A feature of Gothic painting is the presence of significant diversity in the regional development of style. It is impossible to define a single “formula” by which a clear description of an art direction can be given. As a result of research by many art historians, the Gothic style throughout its distribution area is characterized by the following features:

• A special structure of the composition, the illusion of the materiality of the image, created by the masters of the Middle Ages.
• On the canvas, various groups of people predominantly coexist - their interaction is decorative, devoid of naturalness.
• Gothic did not completely move away from the Romanesque influence of conveying a certain hidden symbolic meaning through the personality of the person depicted.
• The images in the paintings do not look holistic, the composition is dismembered, each element must be considered separately.
• Pictures convey reality through metaphors.
• Expression conveyed through shades and dynamics of the plot.
• Schematic representation of action.
• Religiosity, dominance of biblical and mystical subjects.

Minimalism as a style in painting

Portrait is considered the most striking genre.

Development of the art of book miniatures

The design of books in the Middle Ages is difficult not to recognize. Book miniatures have reached a high level of development, depicting religious and secular subjects using bright colors in a recognizable Gothic style:

Miniature painting originated in France in the 13th century, the most famous creator being Jean Pussel. Thanks to the development of miniatures in art, a recognizable Parisian school of miniatures was formed.

During the developed Middle Ages, it became customary to decorate not only artistic and religious books, but also scientific treatises and chronicles with miniatures. The patterns have become more filigree, openwork, and angular. The miniature became more meaningful and more accurately conveyed the essence of the event depicted by the artist.
An example of the most successful transfer of the essence of phenomena and events using miniatures is the “Great French Chronicle”.

Impressionism as a style in painting

International Gothic

At the last stages of the development of style during the developed Middle Ages, an international direction appeared. Homeland - Bohemia, Northern Italy, Burgundy. It is with this direction that the art of the period of the “decline of the Middle Ages” or “autumn of the Middle Ages” is associated.

The distinctive features were decorativeness, splendor, and an abundance of rich colors. This is the most elaborate Gothic style, characterized by exaltation, sophistication, and special expression.

The term “international Gothic” was proposed only at the end of the 19th century by art historians Julius Schlosser and Louis Courageau. And they began to use it to denote late Gothic only in the second half of the 20th century. Until this time, the movement was called “late Gothic”, “court Gothic”, “special Gothic” when it comes to German painting, “soft style”, “cosmopolitan art”. Since the 20th century, paintings created before 1430 began to be called “late,” while the rest became “international.”

Northern Renaissance painting

It’s easy to recognize paintings in this direction:

The style developed at the court of the monarchs of large European countries. Gothic art of this type had its own characteristics in each country, which should allow art historians to easily understand which country a particular painting belongs to. But that's not true. Due to extensive cultural exchange and the network of dynastic marriages that spread cultural characteristics across the continent, it is very difficult to determine exactly what country the artist was from or where the painting was painted if the author's signature is missing.

Another reason for the difficulty of identification is the work of commissioned artists. For this reason, a Frenchman could paint canvases for the Italian or Spanish court, his works could be donated, and because of this, even greater cultural confusion arose.

Suprematism as a style in painting

The theme of early works in the Gothic style was religion and biblical subjects. The international trend moves away from this Gothic dogma. The period of the developed Middle Ages is characterized by the appearance of works on secular themes - they were ordered by representatives of the nobility for interior decoration.

Despite the emergence of secular themes, altar scenes and religious images remain basic. International Gothic painting is similar to icon painting - especially the presence of a gold background and gold lettering.

To decorate the paintings, elaborate frames were used, sometimes the canvas consisted of several panels. Wooden planks were used as canvases for paintings.

Famous Gothic masters

Duccio of Siena

Creator of the Maesta altar in the Siena Cathedral with elegant panels decorated with images on religious themes. His style of creativity traces Byzantine influences.

Giotto

Master of creating wall paintings. The most striking work is the painting in the Chapel del Arena church. Giotto's style has virtually no influences - it is pure Gothic, filled with dynamics.

Simone Martini

One of the most prominent creators of Florence. The work “The Path to Golgotha” is distinguished by its bright colors and full of dynamics.

Rococo painting style

Traini

Creator of the famous fresco in the covered cemetery next to the Pisa Cathedral.

Michelino da Besozzo

Famous painter and creator of miniatures in the International Gothic style.

American Gothic - Grant Wood. 1930. Oil on canvas. 74 x 62 cm

Without exaggeration, we can say that the painting “American Gothic” is one of the most recognizable in the world, comparable to, or. Over the years of its existence, the masterpiece has become the victim of many parodies and memes. There is even a very sinister interpretation of the plot. But what meaning did the author himself put into his “American Gothic”?

The painting was created in 1930 during the Great Depression. In the town of Eldon, Grant Wood noticed a neat house built in the Carpenter Gothic style. The artist wanted to depict the house and its potential inhabitants - a father and daughter, an old maid (according to other sources, this is a wife and husband). The models were the painter's sister and his personal dentist. The unusual exposition of the painting is nothing more than an imitation of photographs of those years.

The characters are depicted very clearly and clearly. The man looks at the viewer, a pitchfork is tightly clenched in his hands. A woman with a strict bun at the back of her head looks to the side, wearing an apron with an old-fashioned pattern. The author allowed only one bun to break out of the girl’s laconic hairstyle. In the stern faces of the heroes and their compressed lips, many art critics find hostility and outright ugliness. Other very authoritative researchers saw in the work a satire on the excessive isolation and limitations of the inhabitants of small towns.

Meanwhile, Wood himself complained that the public misinterpreted his work - he saw rural residents as precisely the effective force that could withstand the economic problems that caused the Great Depression. These town and village dwellers are full of determination and courage to fight the problems. The artist said that the heroes of his work are a collective image that he associates with all of America. However, the residents of the town of Elton did not heed the author's explanations; they were outraged and angry at the way Wood presented them in his work.

Is it a daughter or a wife? The answer to this question is also very interesting. The viewer is inclined to “read” this heroine as a wife, but Wood’s sister, who was a model, insisted that she was a daughter. She just wanted to see herself in the famous work younger, because at the time of posing she was only 30 years old.

The pitchforks are the central element of the painting. The strict, straight lines of the teeth of this agricultural tool can be read in other details of the blade. The seams of the man's shirt almost perfectly follow the contours of his pitchfork. The whole work seems to consist of an appeal to straight vertical lines - the exterior of the house, the spire, the elongated windows and the very faces of the characters. Dentist Byron McKeeby, whom we see in the image of the father-husband, recalled that the artist once noted that he liked his face because it consisted entirely of straight lines.

The public reacted with interest to Grant Wood's work as soon as it appeared at an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s amazing, but not everyone agreed with the author’s interpretation of the work, although they recognized that the painter managed to very accurately “capture” the American national spirit. After the Great Depression gave way to an ordinary stable life, the viewer was finally able to see the picture through the eyes of the creator, to discern not harsh, but unshakable Americans who are ready not to fight, but to resist all troubles.