American Gothic by Grant Wood: Pitchfork, Window, and American Myth (1930)
A pitchfork stands like a third person between a man and a woman. He stares straight at us; she looks away, past his shoulder. Behind them, a white farmhouse lifts a pointed Gothic window into a pale sky, borrowed cathedral lace on a plain Iowa house. Grant Wood's American Gothic , painted in 1930 and now in the Art Institute of Chicago, is one of the most recognised and most parodied images in American art. It looks simple, until you notice how little it explains. Grant Wood, American Gothic , 1930. Oil on Beaver Board. Art Institute of Chicago. Quick facts Artist: Grant Wood (1891–1942) Date: 1930 Medium: Oil on Beaver Board, 78 × 65.3 cm Collection: Art Institute of Chicago (1930.934), Friends of American Art Collection, Gallery 263 Models: the artist’s sister, Nan Wood Graham, and his dentist, Byron McKeeby A house that suggested a painting In 1930 Grant Wood, a painter from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was driven through the small town of Eldon, in the sout...