Grant Wood Feb. 13, 1891 – Feb. 12, 1942 Born in a small town in southern Iowa, Moved to Cedar Rapids at age 10, after his father’s death. Studied at The Art Institute of Chicago In 1932 Wood helped found the Stone City Art Colony near his hometown. Artists came there to live and work, to get through the Great Depression. Taught painting at the University of Iowa’s School of Art from 1934 to Wood was married to Sara Sherman Maxon from Grant Wood – Self-Portrait, 1932

Style of Art Between 1920 and 1928 he made 4 trips to Europe. He studied many styles of painting there. Northern Renaissance painting influenced his style. It was noted for compositional severity (exactness) & detailed technique. His style developed into Regionalism, or American scene painting; This was popular from the 1920s s in the United States. His naturalist style of painting portrays typical, real, contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy. His realistic works depicted people of all classes in ordinary life situations of the times.

Coming Home Wood to the Chicago Tribune: "I spent twenty years wandering around the world hunting 'arty' subjects to paint. I came back...and the first thing I noticed was the cross-stitch embroidery of my mother's kitchen apron." Armed with a new technique & a new appreciation for the mundane, he no longer needed to travel; what he needed was right there in Iowa. Stone City, 1930, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE Young Corn, 1941, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

American Gothic One of the most famous paintings in American art. Detailed style and rigid frontal facing of the figures inspired by Northern Renaissance art: Northern Renaissance art was: 1. Realistic, not abstract 2. Very detailed. 3. A lot of symbolism. American Gothic, 1930, Art Institute of Chicago

Location The title and background were inspired by a small Gothic Revival cottage in Eldon, Iowa. The upper window resemble a medieval pointed arch.

Models His dentist and sister Nan posed for the painting. They are portrayed as hardworking and humorless, dignified and honest. Wood intended to use his mother, Hattie, as a model, but thought that posing would be too tiring for her, so he asked his 32-year-old sister, Nan, to wear Hattie's rickrack-trimmed apron and cameo pin.

Imagery His art chronicled history of Midwestern moral values during the Great Depression. 1.Rigid, upright characters were a symbol of the bond between God and hard work. 2.Patterns of vertical lines - extend upward toward the sky or heavens. 3.Horizontal lines of the roof are symbolic of inseparable stability that the church and God can provide during difficult socioeconomic times.

Many Opinions… As the Great Depression took hold, Americans yearned for positive depictions of themselves; Wood's work provided the nation with a pair of ready-made secular saints of the American heartland. But some see the painting as: 1.Satirizing 1 the narrow mindedness 2 & repression/ restraint 3 that has been said to characterize Midwestern culture. Wood initially denied this. Some who held this opinion were upset by this; Others praised it as a cutting small-town satire. 2.Glorifying the moral virtue of rural America, honoring the Midwest and its strong values. 3.An ambiguous mixture of praise and satire 1. Satirizing - making fun of, in an exaggerated way 2. Narrow mindedness - lacking tolerance, breadth of view, or sympathy; not seeing others’ points of view. 3. Repression / restraint - holding back; showing self-control

The Farmer and his Wife? Concern about age differences: Another reaction was concern about the age disparity between what appeared to be the husband and wife in the picture. Many were not comfortable with the “wife” being married to a much older man. So Wood changed his initial stance to claim that the painting depicted a father and daughter. Wood frequently rewrote the artwork's history. When the painting was hailed as a satire, he went along with it. He also agreed with those who said it paid respect to, and honored, the Midwest. Finally, he made a statement that clarified nothing, basically agreeing with both points of view: "There is satire in it, but only as there is satire in any realistic statement. These are types of people I have known all my life. I tried to characterize them truthfully -to make them more like themselves than they were in actual life."

Most Parodied Painting in American History: Parody - A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.

Political & Patriotic

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Now – Create Your Own Parody! Use the same basic composition as in American Gothic, but replace the male and female subjects with two other subjects. Choose your subjects. They could be: Real people Fictional characters Favorite toys now or when you were younger Items popular today that you think are silly Something seasonal From a favorite TV show or cartoon From a video game From your imagination or other ideas! Think about something relevant to you, in your everyday life, when choosing your characters. Start with a pencil drawing. Focus on characters in foreground; add background and color (Markers or Crayon) as time allows.