THE COUPLE WITH THE PITCHFORK

A painting mirrored America.

Art historian Corn examines Grant Wood’s iconic painting of his sister and his dentist, American Gothic (1930), which caused a sensation when it was first displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago’s 43rd Annual Exhibition and continues to resonate throughout the world. A Midwesterner herself, Corn became interested in Iowan Wood (1891-1942) when she was a student; dissuaded by eminent art historian H.W. Janson, who thought him an inferior artist, she persisted nevertheless. In this penetrating, deeply researched study, she expands on work she began in 1981, explicating the image, recounting Wood’s personal and professional life, and tracing the painting’s reception and transformation from 1930 to the present. American Gothic was Wood’s first big success, awarded a $300 prize by the Art Institute and purchased for the museum’s collection. Early reviews from local newspaper critics were appreciative, although the painting was universally thought to be a portrait of a farmer and his wife, whereas Wood meant it to depict a small-town father and his aging spinster daughter. Ambitious for recognition, Wood was unhappy with reviews from East Coast critics, who pigeonholed him “as a Sinclair Lewis-styled satirist” and insisted on bringing that interpretation to everything else that he painted—even his idyllic farm landscapes. Wood was buoyed when he was identified as a leader among regionalist painters, including Thomas Hart Benton and Reginald Marsh, but regionalism soon incited attacks by modernists and their critical defenders. Corn devotes much of her study to investigating the painting as a celebrity image, widely adopted and quoted in cartoons, ads, and political posters; on television (Green Acres) and in a Broadway musical (The Music Man); and reimagined by artists in many genres, including Black artists with Midwestern roots.

A fresh, engaging look at an iconic artwork.