Customer Reviews

American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece

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This book is interesting but seems to have been rushed into print. Parts of the text seemed like a draft and one of the photos was printed reversed (Parson Weem's Fable.) The paper is very cheap with resulting muddy pictures. Hoving seems to have negative comments about most critics and art historians that he mentions while congratulating himself on his perception. I expected better; his King Tut book was fantastic.

I would recommend American Gothic by Stephen Biel as the first choice but at least this one is cheaper.

I am in complete agreement with the one other customer review that has appeared to date for this book. The information offered is interesting. However, this book was cheaply produced and apparently rushed into print to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the creation of Grant Wood's masterpiece. The illustrations hardly merit the name, so murky they completely obscure the author's points. And there doesn't seem to have been even the most cursory edit. The frequent typos, grammatical errors, jumbled words are a major distraction. Quite honestly, someone of Thomas Hoving's stature should be embarassed to have his name attached to this.

While I agree about the typos and bad photo reproduction (which are the publisher's fault, not the author's), the insights to this famous painting, the reactions to it, and Grant Wood himself make for some excellent text. It's a very quick and fun read.

A different kind of biography, Thomas Hoving opens the door to the general public in this enchanting synopsis of Grant Wood's painting, American Gothic. He greets us with a question as though holding our hands on an intrepid journey. He encourages us to look and "....write down what comes to mind in the first thousandth of a second, the blink of an eye, when looking at the illustration of American Gothic..." We breath a sign of relief---we need only rely on our eyes. After all, greeted by the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City from 1967 to 1977, giving you a personal viewing of one painting can hasten the heart rate. But we are not expected to draw upon our miniscule understanding of an esoteric art form or offer up an historical analysis, but, rather, just use our eyes. "...to look at every millimeter of the work, front, back, and sides, and walk right inside the artist's mind." (page 15) Think of the author as a docent, asking you for your own gut feeling about the work, followed by a near-erudite analysis of the piece, then, once again, back to yourself, "after you have peeled American Gothic apart like an onion." ( page 126)

The book moves on in this manner. We listen attentively without the over loaded jargon of an art historical analysis. This book is user-friendly which makes it so appealing. Only 122 pages of actual text, Hoving guides the reader on what to ask of a painting and what this painting has given to the American culture. Simple, down-to-earth language is in keeping with the style of this regionalist, countrified image.

Other than seeing this painting (at the Art Institute of Chicago) with a renewed eye, this little book is a pedagogical handbook on how to look at art written with the layperson in mind---"as connoisseurs....we're going to be primarily---even obsessively---interested in the simple reality of the work itself and how good or bad it is." Hoving covers everything; from the genesis of the painting, to the almost celebrity status of the artist, its short-lived demise, and finally to the renewed recognition as an icon of American Fine Art.

I love it for its brevity and its broad appeal, although I do wish the illustrations were a bit more extensive. Next time you are in Chicago, make sure you read this book before you go to the Art Institute.

While it could be considered a flawed book that was cheaply produced, Hoving's ideas and insights are more than bright enough to overcome any mistakes. Walking us through his method of appraising a work of art, the reader learns what to look for and how to draw their own conclusions and interpretations.

I learned an art historian's approach varies to that of the critic and the public is better for abiding both points of view. Hoving believes American Gothic is a masterpiece and he make an explicit case and raises Wood up as an original artist, perhaps an under appreciated talent.

I would recommend this book and contrast it with Steven Biel's excellent book on American Gothic. Both authors appreciate American Gothic without pretense.