Happy Birthday Grant Wood – a slice of American Pie

American Regionalist artist Grant Wood (1891-1942) is known for his paintings of the rural midwest.  He is one of the Regionalists Triumvirate  along With John Stueart Currie and Thomas Hart Benson.   Wood worked in many other media besides paint, including stained glass, wood and metal,  but he is most famous for his 1930 iconic painting known as American Gothic.  This painting is thought to be something of an enigma.  Some critics saw and still see  it as a depiction of small town narrow mindedness.  Wood himself rejected this and maintained that  the painting depicted the pioneer steadfastness of the American spirit – read my other posts about this and the other Regionalists and decide for yourself.

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PS There’s a poem I wrote about American Gothic. entitled American Gothic and the Hot Meat Pie over on my other blog Bookstains

 

Plus There’s a poem about an old chair over on Bookstains herehttps://bookstains.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/i-really-could-sit-in-a-chair-all-day/

Thanks to;

American Gothic image here
More on Grant Wood  here

Grant Wood – Happy Birthday!

Grant Wood

It’s American Regionalist artist Grant Wood’s birthday today.  As I have already celebrated this artist’s birthday (see this post) and wrote about him at some length, I thought it might be interesting to look at more of the artist’s most famous work – American Gothic.  Grant Wood was born on this day in Anamosa Iowa USA (1891 – 1942) and is famous for painting the American Midwest, along with fellow Regionalist artists Thomas Hart Benton (see this post) and John Steuart Currie.

American Gothic by Grant Wood 1930

Though known as a painter, Wood also worked in ceramics, wood and metal as well as producing lithographs, ink and charcoal drawings.  The Regionalism movement opposed European abstraction and promoted figurative painting in rural American , primarily the Midwest.   Associated American Artists marketed  Woods work for many years and he encouraged John Steuart Currie and Thomas  Hart Benton (see my post about this artist) to return to the Midwest in the 1930, finding teaching positions for them.

American Gothic (1930) is a national icon, it gave Wood recognition.  The painting has been interpreted as a satire against small town American ruralist, though Wood always rejected this interpretation.  He said that the painting, painted during the Depression, depicted the pioneer spirit.  This image  has been parodied, distorted, and borrowed from so many times – and here in this video are many different versions of the painting. Some are innovative, some silly, some thought-provoking and some – well just bizarre 🙂  One can only marvel at Grant Wood for inspiring these though!

To celebrate this birthday I am hosting another Bookstains Poetry Challenge –  you guessed it …..American Gothic what else!  Update;  Three poems have arrived for  the challege – just click the button to see 🙂

American Gothic by Grant Wood 1930

More about Grant Wood here and the Grant Wood Gallery here

American Gothic image here Grant Wood photo from here

Thanks to bestjonbon for the video!