The American Gothic
7:00 AM
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| Grant Wood, The American Gothic,1930 |
The American Gothic, by
Grant Wood, illustrates the freedom and democracy of The United States. Art Historians recognize The American Gothic as the American Emblem. American artists, including Wood, started to
develop regionalism to demonstrate other parts of America. Painted in 1930, Wood paints a small rural
town in Iowa. Using a father and a daughter,
Wood presents a painting within realism and symbolic references of: religion,
history, and politics.
Wood’s love for the Christianity shows in The American
Gothic. The viewer can discover the
church steeple and the chapel window placed in the house. Grant paints the father’s overcoat to
resemble the altar boys. And art
historians claim the pitch fork represents the Holy Trinity.
Viewing the 1930 painting, the audience notices historic
value taking place. The father and
daughter live in America’s greatest depression. While poverty swept over The United States, The American Gothic implies the farmers protecting their land. During the 1930s, the Homestead Act. took
place. Everything including the house has a homemade
appearance. Gender roles can also be
presented in Wood’s painting. The
audience sees the daughter near the house in domestic clothing and the father in
work clothes. The American Gothic has abundance of history images that shapes the
overall painting.
Historians argue that 1930 politics mix into the painting. The
American Gothic illustrates constant view of circles glasses, trees, and
the daughter’s pin. Reading these
circles imply a time of change (the Great Depression and fascism in
Europe). The farmers’ faces indicate an
anti-international affair tension. And
the viewers have to determine what the farmers’ emotions show.
The American Gothic relates
directly to the constitution “We the people.” Not we the government. The painting represents the American emblem: because it allows the people to
decide what this painting means.
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