American Gothic description. American Gothic __

Many geniuses and creators in the field of art are not recognized by critics and society during their lifetime. Years later they begin to be understood and felt, firmly believing that the artist or poet had his own special look on things. That's when people begin to admire them, classifying them as incredibly talented people of his era. This is exactly what happened to Wood Grant, who painted his vision almost a hundred years ago way of life inhabitants of the New World in the film "American Gothic". He was quite a complex artist, with his own character and style.

A few words about the artist’s childhood

Many critics and art experts believe that before analyzing a painting, especially one that caused a huge public outcry, it is necessary to study a little about the creator of the masterpiece. This should be done only in order to understand the motives or message of the artist. Speaking about Wood Grant, whose painting “American Gothic” still causes controversy and certain disagreements among experts around the world, it is worth saying that early years his were unremarkable.

He was born on a small agricultural farm on the very outskirts of America. Besides him, there were two more boys and a girl in the family. The father of the family was distinguished by his hot temper and severity. He passed away quite early. Grant had loved ones and trusting relationship with his mother, perhaps because of this he grew up very sensitive, vulnerable and the most talented of all the children in the family.

Unrecognized genius

Having matured and chosen an artistic path for himself, Grant painted a sufficient number of paintings, but his work was not properly appreciated. He was not recognized in art, often not even taking his work seriously.

About the time in which the picture was painted

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

1. Firstly, in 1929, an economic crisis began in America, which, by the way, did not in the least hinder 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. Secondly, all over the world, fascism was gaining momentum as rapidly as industry. The new trend and ideology of Adolf Hitler were strengthened in the minds of people who strived for a perfect future.
3. To this list, perhaps, it is worth adding a fact that concerns the artist himself personally. By that time, Wood Grant had already lived for a sufficient amount of time in France and Munich, Germany. Some critics felt that these wanderings around the world added a lot to the film “American Gothic” from the European way of life.

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

It's all in the details

You can analyze the canvas only if you describe it in detail. So, in the foreground two people are depicted: a woman and a man, who is apparently much older than her. Wood Grant has repeatedly said that he tried to show a father and daughter, but it is known for certain that he depicted his sister and dentist Byron McKeeby. According to the artist, the latter had a rather cheerful disposition. True, in the painting “American Gothic” he appears as a reserved person, if not stern. His gaze is directed directly into the eyes of the person looking at the canvas, and it is impossible to understand what will happen next: either he will smile or get angry. His face is drawn in such detail that you can make out every wrinkle, of which there are plenty.

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 arm of an elderly man. He has a pitchfork in his hands, with its tips pointing upward, which he holds with a fairly strong grip. It seems as if the people depicted by Wood Grant are 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, indeed, the attic roof.

If you look beyond the background of the painting "American Gothic", it seems that Grant Wood did not pay enough attention to it. Trees are presented as geometric shapes 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 tones in which the canvas is painted can be described as quite calm. Perhaps this is all the description of the painting “American Gothic”, from which it becomes clear why many Americans saw themselves in it: almost all families living on both the western and eastern coasts of the continent had such houses.

Society assessment

The painting "American Gothic" created a sensation. Some were delighted, but there were also dissatisfied. Residents considered this depiction of their way of life to be a mockery of the artist, and one lady even threatened with physical violence against Grant Wood. She promised to bite his ear off. 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 still remains at the peak of popularity. They make parodies of her, admire her, but 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. Almost a century later, critics have been able to discern 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 and argue about the painting “American Gothic”.

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

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 - father and daughter, old maid(according to other sources, these are wife and husband). The models were the painter's sister and his personal dentist. The unusual exhibition 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 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. It seems that all the work consists of appealing to direct vertical lines– the exterior of the house, the spire, the elongated windows and the faces of the characters themselves. 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.

At least once, you have seen this picture. And the first thing you thought was: “Hmm... what’s going on here?”

The painting “American Gothic” makes a mixed impression on the viewer. Let's try to understand why this happens.
The painting was created in 1930 by artist Grant Wood. One day he saw a small White House in the Carpenter Gothic style. The artist liked the house, and he decided to paint a picture telling the story of the inhabitants of the house who could live in it. He chose his sister Nan and dentist Byron McKeeby as models. Wood painted the people and the house separately, the scene we see in the painting never happened.

A photograph showing the artist's sister Nan and Byron McKeeby, who became the heroes of American Gothic.

Once finished, Wood decided to submit his painting to a competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The judges perceived the film as a “humorous valentine”, demonstrating the relationship of two spouses with life’s “baggage.” But the museum curator saw something different in the painting and persuaded the judges to award Wood a $300 prize and purchase the painting for the institute. By the way, she still remains there.

After purchasing the painting, they decided to publish the image in several city newspapers. The unexpected happened, the residents of Iowa, where the painting was painted, were angry satirical image residents of the state. One lady even threatened to bite off the artist's ear.

Grant Wood, in his defense, said that he wanted to create a collective portrait of Americans and did not want to hurt the feelings of the residents of the state. The artist’s sister also saw in the painting a humiliating attitude, albeit towards herself. She told her brother that in the picture she could be mistaken for the wife of a man twice her age. After the painting was shown publicly, Nan claimed that the painting depicted a father and daughter. However, the artist himself did not comment on this matter.

Some critics are confident that the film is a satire on the life of small American towns. During the 1930s, American Gothic became part of a growing critical view of the lives and values ​​of rural America.

Now let's pay attention to some facts. Wood was a regionalist artist, not very well known outside his state. He himself grew up on a farm, in rural areas, loved nature and the landscapes of small towns. So why should an artist laugh at what he loves?

While working with Byron McKeeby on the man's image, Wood said he liked Byron's face. The painting shows the man wearing round glasses, but McKeeby wore glasses with octagonal lenses. But Wood's father wore round glasses, popular in the 19th century.

The image of the woman was based on her sister. In life Nan was a bright and positive girl, but in the picture she looks much older. Despite the fact that the picture was painted in the 20th century, the clothes of the characters are taken from victorian era, this is confirmed by the apron of the lady of the house (which Nan had to tear off from her mother’s dress, since they no longer sold those in stores), as well as the cameo, which was popular at that time.

It is possible that Wood was creating a memory painting in which characters and things reminded him of his childhood and the time when he lived on the farm. Moreover, during the Great Depression, the painting began to be seen as a depiction of the masculinity of American pioneers.

But, despite all this, the picture still leaves a strange, mysterious impression. Perhaps it has to do with the attributes and “behavior” of the heroes. If we look closely at the characters, we will see that the man stands in the foreground, the woman a little behind. With his elbow, he seems to hold her back, not allowing her to come closer. He holds a pitchfork in his hands, but holds it in a fist, which gives the gesture a slightly threatening appearance.

The church spire can be seen above the house. This is a reference to the heritage of the Puritan pioneers, who adhered to strict rules and did not like it when their property was invaded. quiet life. Behind the man’s back you can see a red barn, which indicates the owner’s occupation, as do the flowers on the veranda. But especially impressionable viewers see in the film the plot of a horror film. Due to this, the picture was subjected to ridicule hundreds, and maybe thousands of times. On the Internet you can find a lot of collages in absolutely different topics, ranging from horror films to parodies of famous characters, musicians, political figures.

Whatever the assumptions of critics and the public, what impression this picture makes is up to us to decide. In Chicago, for example, they thought it was a good idea to erect a monument to the heroes of the picture, as if releasing them into Big city with a suitcase.

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 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 absolutely various 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 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 piece of art“essence” of an ethnocultural region. In Russia there is an analogue of this term - “localism” or “pochvennichestvo”.

Many people probably associate it with the depiction of rural life in the American Midwest. famous portrait women and men with pitchforks standing against the background of a house. And for good reason, because it was Grant Wood who wrote it 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.

In Russia, the painting “American Gothic” is practically unknown, but in America it is truly a national landmark. Painted in 1930 by artist Grant Wood, it still excites minds and is the subject of numerous parodies. It all started with a small house and an unusual window in the Gothic style...

American artist Grant Wood was born and raised in Iowa, he painted realistic, sometimes exaggerated, portraits and landscapes dedicated to ordinary Americans, rural residents of the Midwest, executed with incredible precision down to the smallest detail.

It all started with a small white rural house, with a pointed roof and a Gothic window, in which, apparently, lived a family of poor farmers.

This simple house in the town of Eldon, in southern Iowa, so impressed the artist and reminded him of his childhood that he decided to paint it, and at the same time those Americans who, in his opinion, could live in it.

Painting "American Gothic"

The picture itself is completely uncomplicated. In the foreground, against the background of a house, an elderly farmer with a pitchfork and his daughter in a strict Puritan dress are depicted; the artist chose the familiar 62-year-old dentist Byron McKeeby and his 30-year-old daughter Nan as models. For Wood, this picture was a memory of his childhood, also spent on a farm, so he deliberately depicted some of the personal belongings of his characters (glasses, an apron and a brooch) as old-fashioned, the way he remembered them from childhood.

Quite unexpectedly for the author, the painting won a competition in Chicago, and after it was published in newspapers, Grant Wood immediately became famous, but not in in a good way words, but vice versa. His picture did not leave indifferent a single person who saw it, and everyone’s reaction was extremely negative and indignant. The reason for this was the main characters of the picture, who, according to the artist’s plan, personified ordinary rural residents of the American outback. The threatening-looking farmer with a heavy gaze and his daughter, full of resentment and indignation, looked too rude and unattractive.
« I advise you to hang this portrait in one of our good Iowa cheese dairies.“,” the wife of one of the farmers said ironically in a letter to the newspaper. - The look on this woman's face will definitely turn the milk sour.».

This picture really frightened the children; they were afraid of the scary grandfather with a creepy pitchfork, believing that he hid a corpse in the attic of his house.

Wood has said more than once that there is no mockery, no satire, no sinister overtones in his painting, and the pitchforks simply symbolize hard farm labor. Why did he, who grew up in the rural outback, loving its nature and people, laugh at its inhabitants?

But, despite the endless criticism and negative attitude, Wood's picture became more and more popular. And during the Great Depression, it even began to symbolize the national unshakable spirit and masculinity.

And the house depicted in the picture made the small town of Eldon, home to only about a thousand people, famous. Tourists from all over the world come to take a look and take pictures near it.

At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, interest in this picture increased sharply again, giving rise to a huge number of parodies of it. There are ridicule using black humor, and parodies of famous characters with the substitution of the main characters of the picture, their clothes or the background against which they are depicted.

Here are just a few of them: