Professor Hepworth
English 101-04
April 30,2007
American Gothic:
Persuasive Essay
One of the most familiar images in the 20th century. An image portraying a pitchfork-holding farmer and his daughter in front of a house. This is the description of Grant Wood’s painting, American Gothic, from 1930. It was painted on beaver board, which is compressed wood fibers used to make the ceilings and inner walls of buildings (Decker, Art Conversation). The painting is 74.3 cm x 62.4 cm, or 29 inches high x 25 inches wide (Karl, personal interview). American Gothic is a very unique painting, although I don’t have the knowledge of paintings, I would probably give it the grade of a B.
What is an American? An American is: of or pertaining to the United States of America or its inhabitants (www.dictionary.com). I interviewed a friend of mine, and she told me what was American about it. "I feel it is American because it reminds me of my grandparents" she started tell me. "They had a homestead in Homedale, Idaho, they had 17 children." She continues to explain, "My grandfather wore the same type of clothing, except he wore a hat and my grandmother wore the glasses" she chuckles a little then continues, "My grandmother wore
dresses, but she wasn’t as well dressed as the woman in the painting." "My grandfather was very
stern and didn’t mess around, he drew the line and none of the children crossed it, and if they did,
it was the last time." She told me with a smile. "It’s American to me because that’s what my grandfather’s life was, and that’s what being American represents to me" (Harris, personal interview). Most people would probably thing of gothic as all black, Satan worshipers, but that is just what people think. Gothic: noting or pertaining to the style of architecture, originating if France in the middle of the 12th century and existing in the western half of Europe through the middle of the 16th century, characterized by the use of the pointed arch and ribbed vault, by the use of fine woodwork and stonework, by a progressive lightening of structure, and by the use of such features as plying buttresses, ornamental gables, crockets, and foils (www.dictionary.com).
Grant Wood probably titled this painting American Gothic because farming is how most Americans make a living, so he decided to portray Americans that way. The gothic part of it was the way one of the window is shaped. It is pointed at the top, it represents to me the way the windows in old churches would look, the style of it.
American Gothic is one of the most parodied images ever. Parodies American Gothic has been used on postcards, magazines, cartoons, advertisements, comic books, and television shows. The first prominent parody was in 1943. It was a photo by Gordon Parks of cleaning woman Ella Watson, shot in Washington, D.C. The photo trades on the post-Great Depression interpretation of Wood’s painting as a "celebratory expression of populist nationalism." Postcards replacing the couple with sitting US Presidents and Presidential nominees (and their spouses) are often
popular products. Some examples are Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Bill and Hillary Clinton. A very rare limited edition printed of American Gothic has surfaced in Scottsboro, Alabama.
This print with the Stone City Seal was originally given to the mayor of Huntsville, Alabama by Miss Iowa World 1978 (Biel, Wikipedia-The Free Encyclopedia).
Grant Wood’s painting has also been seen parodied on television also. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie pose as the couple during the title and opening credits of their TV series The Simple Life. The Simpsons used the painting for a joke for the fifth season episode "Bart Gets an Elephant," in which, apparently, the family owns the original painting itself. While cleaning the living room, Bart absentmindedly begins to wipe the painting until he has rendered the entire canvas blank, revealing a message underneath that says, "If you can read this, you scrubbed too hard.–Grant Wood." In the classic Looney Tunes short "Louvre Come Back To Me!", Pepe LePew and Penelope Pussycat hide in the Louvre’s air conditioning, his scent pervades into a gallery above, reaching American Gothic, and the figure’s heads disappear into their costumes (Biel, Wikipedia-The Free Encyclopedia).
The actual relationship between the two people in the painting were not related at all. The models for the painting, who for the painting separately, were the artist’s sister, Nan, and his dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby. Wood asked the two to pose as a farmer and his unmarried daughter. When I first saw the painting, I thought that it was a farmer and his wife (The Art Institute of Chicago).
With all of the research that I did on this painting, and saw how many times it has been
parodied throughout time, I have grown to really like this painting. I don’t know if I have persuaded you to like this painting or dislike this painting any more than you have before. After all this research I have persuaded myself, and I enjoy this painting more, and I have boosted the grade up from a B to an A-. It may not be a big boost but I think that this painting deserves a grade like that.
Work Cited
1. Beil, Steven. "American Gothic."
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia 29 April 2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic>.
2. Decker, Judy. "American Gothic-oil painting."
Art Conversation Artcyclopedia: The Conversation 2 Aug 2006. 4 Apr. 2007
3. Dictionary.com 29 April 2007
2007 Lexico Publishing Group.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/American> .
4. Dictionary.com 10 April 2007
2007 Lexico Publishing Group.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gothic> .
5. "Grant Wood: American, 1891-1942."
The Art Institute of Chicago Aug 2004. 4 April 2007
<http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Modern/pages/MOD_5.shtml> .
6. Harris, Katrina. Personal interview. 10 April 2007.
7. Hepworth, Jim. "American Gothic Assignment, Too."
Blog posting. 4 April 2007. Blogspot.
<http://www.drhepworth.blogspot.com> .
8. Karl, Katharina. Personal interview. 4 April 2007.
