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American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting

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"American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting" by Steven Biel is a brilliant interdisciplinary study of Grant Wood's "American Gothic" and its ever-changing meanings over the past 75 years. This engaging book intelligently discusses the painting's substantive role in 20th Century America's struggle for cultural identity. The author's cogent, well-researched and accessible writing has produced a book that should interest a wide audience, including historians, artists, pop culture afficianados and general readers.

Mr. Biel profiles the artist's problematic personal life and his transformation from expatriate bohemian to earnest painter of American regionalism to illuminate some of the ambiguities that have been transposed into "American Gothic". For example, might the cathedral-like architecture and the model's buttoned-up attire represent the artist's own religious guilt and repressed sexuality or is it merely a recording of small-town Puritanical morality? Do the age differences between the male and female figures suggest a father/daughter or husband/wife relationship, with the varying meanings entailed by such a reading, and what does it say about the artist's adult relationship with his mother? According to Mr. Biel, these are a few of the painting's enigmatic qualities that serve to fascinate new generations of viewers.

Painted in 1930, we learn that "American Gothic" was initially greeted with praise from the artistic vanguard who appreciated its Menckenesque critique of the culturally backward Midwest. However, as the Depression wore on, Mr. Biel writes that the steely determination of the subjects appealed to a mass audience that was in search of stability and reassurance in a time of crisis. As a result, the image was pressed into service by the corporate mass media as a propagandistic representation of American values. Not surprisingly, the painting fell out of favor with the Left. The work was savagely critiqued for its idealized depiction of Jeffersonian agrarianism, including its omission of any hint of massive popular discontent with capitalism and its subtle suggestion of isolationism and fanatacism.

Mr. Biel draws on his knowledge of film, literature, theater, and popculture history to tell us that postwar society tended to parody "American Gothic" as a means to compare and contrast changing lifestyles and attitudes with the idea of a mythic, uncorrupted America. In the early 1960s, the painting was successfully used to sell cereal to consumers; in the late 1960s and 1970s, numerous parodies poked fun at changing sexual mores, the war on drugs and other topics. Exploitation of the image has continued to the present, including a noteworthy collage that makes a strong and biting comment on the war on terror. The author contends that the ubiquitousness of the parodies has served to solidify the painting's iconolatry as the normalized definition of the nation's so-called "heartland", which is commonly understood to mean white, middle-class rural America.

The book includes a middle section with full-color reproductions of the original painting and a selection of some of the more interesting parodies. Numerous black and white illustrations are also interspersed throughout the text. These pictures help readers follow Mr. Biel's narrative and analysis with ease.

I highly recommend this entertaining and thoughtful book to everyone.

American Gothic the book is as enigmatic as the painting it purports to chronicle. The author while quite well versed in literature and history, shows a definite lack of chops when it comes to Art History.

At times the book reads like a drunken pointless ramble by a highly educated man. You hang on and try to make order out of the meanderings, but in the end there is no point. Which is a shame considering the deluge of cultural minutiae thrown at you.
Minutiae that often has no real connection to the painting in even a tangential fashion.

This book is a discussion of how a painting can be used as a cultural weapon, and how that weapon can and does change hands over time. It's all a matter of perspective and the way a static object that is somewhat enigmatic can reside on one side of the fence today, and the other side tomorrow. After 172 pages Mr. Biel seems incapable of nailing down the crux of the situation.

It's pointed out repeatedly that Grant Wood's American Gothic couple has countenances that defy interpretation, yet there is not one word of mention in relating it to the Mona Lisa, and the age old question of what she is thinking. The dust jacket photo shows American Gothic hanging next to the Mona Lisa, so obviously SOMEBODY thought of this connection. Maybe the Dust Jacket Art Director should have proof read the book....

Mr. Biel talks about how the use of the word 'heartland' was used by both sides in the last presidential election.... not that this has spit to do with Grant Wood's painting.

And yet he's managed to fill 172 pages in discussing ONE painting without even so much as noticing that the woman's apron/dress is billboard flat. Mind you this is a rural/farm setting.... such blatant lack of fecundity/sexuality doesn't strike you as a tad weird Mr. Biel???

How about the snake like wisp of hair pointed up at her right ear?? Or the way she's not so happy, and has her gaze fixed on something off to the right of the picture frame, and out of our field of vision. Looks more like the 'thousand yard stare' than anything else. And how her dress/apron pattern echoes the drapery pattern in the 'Gothic' window... and what does that say???

If you ask me, this old maid is worldly weary of dear old Dad scaring off all the suitors with his hay fork and psycho gaze. She's either gonna bust loose, and be free somewhere else, or she's going to stay under Dad's oppressive thumb and be an old maid for the rest of her life. Judging by her weak chin, she's probably not quite up to the task... which has probably lead to her predicament in the first place.

Are we going to talk about this sort of stuff?? Noooooooooo... we're going to talk about campaign slogans in 2004.... sigh. Please, spare me.....

Mr. Biel also discusses at length how American Gothic has been parodied over the years... and yet not once does he broach the subject of how other paintings such as the Mona Lisa, or Rockwell's Freedom From Want paintings are also parodied in similar fashion.

American Gothic the book is painfully well researched, and yet oh so lacking. In my opinion this is one book that really needed a co-writer.

It's worth reading, just don't read it thinking you're getting the whole picture.

It is the most familiar of American paintings, and needs just a few words to bring the image to mind: a sturdy farming couple, standing in front of their house, with the man holding a pitchfork. If you have never seen Grant Wood's famous "American Gothic" in its original oil on beaverboard incarnation at the Art Institute of Chicago, you have seen it in reproduction, and even more often in parody. It has inspired praise as art or as satire or as realism or as social commentary, and condemnation for all that, too. Grant Wood himself was rather tight-lipped about it, but in _American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting_ (Norton) Steven Biel has looked at the painting in many different ways. He has not shown what the painting means; no one could do that. He has shown what different generations and schools of thought have made of it, and it is clear that the painting has inspired plenty of careful thought as well as raucous takeoffs. Not bad for a couple of dull old farmers in a frame.

Biel first examines the originals the artist used in composing his painting. The house, with its clapboard siding and gothic window, actually exists. It is on Route 16 in Eldon, Iowa, and Wood conceived of the painting when he drove by the house in 1930. Wood used models for his two subjects, neither of whom posed in front of the house, and neither of whom posed together, and neither of whom was a farmer. The woman was Wood's sister Nan, whose face was too rounded so he lengthened it. The man was Byron McKeeby, an Eldon dentist. Wood knew the type of faces he wanted, and he knew the clothes, too, ordering a "prim, colonial print" apron and overalls from a mail order house in Chicago. Wood himself never specified that he had composed the picture as a satire, and made conflicting remarks about his intent, but the years of the Depression seemed to reinforce the image of the couple in the painting four-square hard-workers. It has been endlessly parodied. Mickey and Minnie Mouse have struck the pose, as have Barbie and Ken and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. When Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" held up an image of the couple in swimwear, Wood's sister was not amused, sued, and won a small settlement; larger suits against such outlets as _Hustler_ have been unsuccessful. Biel reviews some of the laws involved in copyright and parody, and reveals that the copyright of the painting itself is a matter of legal murkiness.

Biel's book is great fun, not only as it increases understanding of the painting, but as explanation of parts of American social history in the twentieth century. The painting is an enigmatic work that either symbolizes or satirizes American rural wholesomeness, and despite the certainty of qualified authorities here quoted on either side of the question, the real meaning of the painting will always be up for debate. Biel says we can't be certain what Wood intended, but even if we could, "The painting's meanings have much more to do with viewers' perceptions than with his intentions." Those who read this entertaining and often funny book will have their perceptions clarified.

I think Prof. Biel had a good idea here -- to mark the 75th anniversary of this famous painting -- and the book is informative. I came away disappointed because the book was not as good as the NYTimes review had led me to expect. I didn't get the analysis of the painting and its place in American art of the depression that I had expected. What we do get is a discussion of countless posters, ads, and sitcoms that satirize this painting. I found that a little tiresome.
The book's illustrations are inadequate. We should get to see other Grant Wood paintings from the 30's, and works by other prairie painters.
I'm glad I read it; it certainly wasn't a waste of time or money. But I was hoping for more substance. I guess I will next read the Thomas Hoving book on the same subject.

Steven Biel's "American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting" is amusing, informative and anecdotal. This book provides a broad view of one of America's most well known paintings, Grant Wood's American Gothic. The painting has become a part of America's cultural identity.
In the first chapter, Biel discusses Grant Wood driving by the house in Eldon, Iowa, and stopping the car to get out and sketch. He elaborates on how Wood imagined the home's inhabitants. In the second chapter Biel examines the response of the painting from Iowa's citizens. The views of the citizens ranged from those who hated it because they thought it was a cruel caricature and to the rest of the country who enjoyed it for the same reasons. Biel discusses how some were offended by the age difference of the couple. The third chapter discusses the painting on display throughout the nation, and the response it received. The fourth chapter examines parodies created as a result of the painting, stretching from Barbie and Ken to the nations Presidents and First Ladies.
Biel shows just how deeply this image has worked its way into the American consciousness. Biel provides a thorough analysis of the painting American Gothic. He provides an extensive history to a painting most Americans instantaneously recognize but whose artist, they can rarely name.

I was excited to read this book because I have long considered American Gothic to be one of my favorite paintings. While there are other works that may stir me more emotionally, or I might find more artistically astounding, I like American Gothic because of its back-story and its humor. The figures seem so stern and judgmental, yet the models were just playing a role. Grant Wood had seen the American Gothic house in Iowa and tried to imagine what kind of people would live there.

In some ways it is less the painting itself, but rather all of the stories and history that surround the work that make it so interesting. This is the story that Steven Biel tells in his book. He starts with the house itself, and then explains the other ideas that influenced the work, the initial reception, subsequent interpretations, and the work's eventual status as an American icon. What is enjoyable about the book is that it provides lots of interesting factoids about the painting. What is disappointing is how little the book seemed to hold together as one narrative. With as much material as Biel had to work with, I didn't find American Gothic to be a particularly compelling read. It seemed short and disjointed, and was easy to put down. It was fun to find out so much about the painting, but in the end I found it unsatisfying.

I really expected to love this book, especially after the positive reviews it got in the papers (and even in The Economist). But I was disappointed. Biel has landed on a great and potentially fun topic. He has done impressive and seemingly exhaustive research, especially about early reception of American Gothic. But, gosh, the writing is bad. Cursory attention to any composition style manual would have corrected some of the basic sins this book commits: loopy organization within chapters, topic sentences in the middle of paragraphs, chronic repetition (sometimes almost verbatim, often within a few paragraphs -- as if Biel believes all readers to have short-term memory problems), re-use of quotations, quotations without comment, quotations introduced or followed by completely redundant paraphrases, lack of balance in subtopics, and generally clunky prose. I found the overall effect to be utter irritation. There are also some long, ultimately digressive sections, like the start-to-finish synopsis of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (in which Biel never really deconstructs the significance of the film's early reference to the painting, so what's the point?). Overall, Biel's book reads like a well-researched but hastily completed dissertation, with an old term paper on Whistler's Mother plowed in for good measure. At the beginning of the book, Biel acknowledges his "brilliant" editor. If this is the result of her brilliance, one wonders just how rough Biel's draft was to begin with. Truly disappointing is the paucity of reproduced images -- and Biel's limited discussion of them. Biel notes in his introductory matter that many friends sent him various spoofs and reworkings of American Gothic. One can imagine the variety and hilarity of such a collection; it's too bad he didn't include more of them among the illustrations. A more generous selection of American Gothic ephemera would have not only attested to the painting's place among our cultural referents, but been hugely entertaining. Those that Biel does include, like the postcard of Bill and Hillary Clinton, tend to be somewhat uninspired and, again, Biel doesn't show much taste for interesting cultural deconstruction of popular imagery. Perhaps even worse, given the topic, is the seeming humorlessness of much of Biel's prose. This is a shame -- someone with Biel's scholarly skills AND a flair for cultural deconstruction AND a gracefully wry writing style could have turned out the "gem of a book" this one is alleged to be. The unfortunate bottom line: there's still a really good book to be written on this subject.

The mis-matched couple in the painting with the dour expressions are slightly off center on the cover (must have been at the Art Institute of Chicago), the way I usually hang my paintings. I was asked by the librarian in Giles County if the picture she was hanging was level. I told her she had asked the wrong person, as all my pictures are leaning. All these years, I thought this was a real farm couple, though most of the Tennessee farmers I knew as a child were fat as they had the food and milk the rest of us had to scrounge for; oh, I know it is hard, never-ending work on the farm, but...

Written by a historian, we get a different view of the actual painting and how it was done, as a pretense on life in Iowa, considered backward from the rest of the country. He actually made a road trip to find the house with the Gothic window (thus, the name, not for the pose). From the side, it could be any house in rural Alabama with the exception of that window. Actually, the real house had two gothic windows in each of the two bedrooms. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and was declared a historic site by the state of Iowa in 1991. Now, that is funnier than the picture itself, to put such an ordinary, low-class structure in such an elevated status. We have those signs on old brick buildings all over town. That historic business has gotten out of hand. Who choose those with the markers and on what basis? Some of ours in Knoxville 'hit the dust' marker and all.

At 'A Century of Progress' fair in Chicago, more prints of 'American Gothic' were sold than even 'Whistler's Mother,' the main attraction. This fake-posed (like the song "You Don't Send Me Flowers" by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand pieced together was never intended as a duet) with the painter's own sister using family heirlooms and his dentist who was sketched at his office. They appear together for a showing of the painting after Wood's death at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Many parodies have been made of this pose using real and ficitonal people holding different things. Most don't have the Gothic window after which the painting is named. It's been the subject of newspaper cartoons and some of Johnny Carson's ribald humor on his late-night television talk show. The only thing I really appreciated about this book was getting to see the rundown, crude old house used, as it is so different from the painting and the unhappy 'couple' -- never a spot you'd think would become a historic site. Perhaps, that was Wood's joke on the American people!

This is one of those books to use when you have to do an essay/report about Grant wood.