Picture of American farmers. Painting "American Gothic", Grant Wood - description

"American Gothic" is a 1930 painting by American artist Grant Wood. One of the most recognizable images in American art of the 20th century.

The painting depicts a farmer with his daughter in front of a carpenter's gothic house. The farmer has a pitchfork in his right hand, which he holds in a tightly clenched fist as they hold a weapon. Wood managed to convey the unattractiveness of the father and daughter - tightly compressed lips and a heavy defiant gaze of the father, his elbow exposed in front of his daughter, her hair pulled together with only one free curl, her head slightly turned towards her father and eyes full of resentment or indignation. The daughter is dressed in a typical 19th-century American apron, and the seams on the farmer's clothes resemble a pitchfork in his hand. The outline of the pitchfork can also be seen in the windows of the house in the background. Behind the woman are pots of flowers and the steeple of a church in the distance, and behind the man is a barn. The composition of the painting is reminiscent of American photographs of the late 19th century.

IN 1 In 930, in Eldon, Iowa, Grant Wood noticed a small white carpenter's gothic house. He wanted to depict this house and the people who, in his opinion, could live in it. The artist's sister, Nan, served as the model for the farmer's daughter, and Byron McKeeby became the model for the farmer himself ( Byron McKeeby), artist's dentist from Cedar Rapids ( Cedar Rapids) in Iowa. Wood painted the house and people separately, the scene, as we see it in the picture, never happened in reality.

Wood entered American Gothic in a competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The judges rated it as a humorous valentine, but the curator of the museum persuaded them to give the author a $300 prize and persuaded the Art Institute to purchase the painting, where it remains to this day. Soon the picture printed in newspapers in Chicago, New York, Boston, Kansas City, and Indianapolis. However, after publication in the newspaper of the city of Cedar Rapids, a negative reaction followed. The people of Iowa were angry at the way the artist portrayed them. One farmer even threatened to bite off Voodoo's ear.)))

Grant Wood justified that he wanted to make not a caricature of the inhabitants of Iowa, but a collective portrait of Americans. Wood's sister was offended because in the painting she could be mistaken for the wife of a man twice her age.

Critics believed that the picture is a satire on the rural life of small American towns. However, during the Great Depression, the attitude towards the picture changed. It came to be seen as a picture of the unwavering spirit of American pioneers.

In terms of the number of copies, parodies and allusions in popular culture, American Gothic ranks alongside such masterpieces as Leonardo's Mona Lisa and Munch's Scream.

The artist's sister and his dentist, from whom the painting was painted.

The work of photographer Gordon Parks is considered the first parody.

There are countless parodies, here is the smallest part:

The Middle Ages - the time of the Crusades, the dominance of religion over secular life, a turning point in the development of European countries. Against the backdrop of political and military transformations, a recognizable, striking style was formed - Gothic, which influenced the development of painting, architecture, music, and sculpture.

The origin and development of style

The period of style formation was the developed Middle Ages, the XII century in the countries of Western Europe, in the XIII - XVI centuries - in Central Europe. The grandiosity of style borders on the intimidation that the works of painters and architects of this period can cause.

Gothic painting is distinguished by a specific composition, an abundance of colors and shades, a dynamic image, and a tension in the plot. As part of the study of the works of painters, it is worth considering the book miniature as a representative direction in art.

The birthplace of the style is France, where in the XII century. From there, Gothic spread to Germany, Spain, England, Austria. In the next century, Gothic influences became noticeable in Italy, where a local, distinctive offshoot of the style was formed. During the early modern period, the style took shape in an international format. For the longest time, Gothic influences were noticeable in the countries of Eastern Europe.
Gothic in painting in the Middle Ages appeared in the art of creating stained glass windows.

Imprimatura in painting

Style features at an early stage of development

Gothic replaced the Romanesque style - it's hard not to notice the fundamental differences between these areas of art. In art, Gothic is associated with grandeur, grandiosity, and special decorativeness.
A feature of Gothic painting is the presence of significant diversity in the regional development of style. It is impossible to determine a single “formula” by which a clear description of the direction of art can be given. As a result of the research of many art historians, the following features are characteristic of the Gothic style throughout the distribution area:

• A special construction of the composition, the illusion of the materiality of the image, created by the masters of the Middle Ages.
• On the canvas, various groups of people mostly coexist - their interaction is decorative, devoid of naturalness.
• Gothic has not completely departed from the Romanesque influence to convey a certain hidden symbolic meaning through the personality of the depicted person.
• Images in the paintings do not look complete, the composition is dissected, each element must be considered separately.
• Pictures convey reality through metaphors.
• Expression transmitted through the shades and dynamics of the plot.
• Schematic representation of the action.
• Religiosity, the dominance of biblical and mystical stories.

Minimalism as a style in painting

The most striking genre is the portrait.

Development of the art of book miniature

Book design in the Middle Ages is hard to miss. The book miniature has reached a high level of development, displaying religious, secular subjects with the help of bright colors in a recognizable, Gothic style:

The miniature originated in France in the 13th century, the most famous creator was Jean Pussel. Thanks to the development of the miniature in art, a recognizable Parisian school of miniature was formed.

During the developed Middle Ages, it became customary to decorate with miniatures not only artistic and religious books, but also scientific treatises and chronicles. Patterns have become more filigree, openwork, angular. The miniature became more meaningful, more accurately conveyed the essence of the event, which is displayed by the artist.
An example of the most successful transfer of the essence of phenomena and events with the help of a miniature is the Great French Chronicle.

Impressionism as a style in painting

International Gothic

At the last stages of the development of style in the period of the developed Middle Ages, an international direction appeared. Homeland - Bohemia, Northern Italy, Burgundy. It is with this direction that the art of the period of the “decline of the Middle Ages” or “autumn of the Middle Ages” is associated.

Distinctive features were decorativeness, splendor, an abundance of saturated colors. This is the most pretentious Gothic, characterized by exaltation, refinement, and special expression.

The term "International Gothic" was proposed only at the end of the 19th century by art historians Julius Schlosser and Louis Courageot. And they began to use it to refer to late Gothic only in the second half of the 20th century. Until that time, the direction was called “late Gothic”, “court Gothic”, “special Gothic”, if we are talking about painting in Germany, “soft style”, “cosmopolitan art”. From the 20th century, canvases created before 1430 began to be called “late”, the rest moved into the category of “international”.

Painting of the Northern Renaissance

Finding pictures in this direction is simple:

The style developed at the court of the monarchs of large European countries. Gothic art of this type had its own characteristics in each country, which should allow art historians to easily understand which country a particular canvas belongs to. But it is not. Due to the active cultural exchange and the network of dynastic marriages, due to which cultural characteristics spread throughout the continent, it is very difficult to determine exactly which country the artist was from or where the painting was painted if the author's signature is missing.

Another reason for the difficulties of identification is the work of artists to order. For this reason, a Frenchman could paint canvases for the Italian, Spanish court, his works could be donated, and because of this, even more cultural confusion was formed.

Suprematism as a style in painting

The theme of early works in the Gothic style was religion, biblical stories. The international direction departs from this Gothic dogma. The period of the developed Middle Ages is characterized by the appearance of works on secular subjects - they are ordered by representatives of the nobility to decorate the interior.

Despite the appearance of secular themes, altar plots and religious images remain basic. International Gothic painting is similar to iconography - especially, the presence of a golden background, gold inscriptions.

Artistic frames were used to decorate the paintings, sometimes the canvas consisted of several wings. Wooden planks were used as canvases for paintings.

Notable Gothic masters

Duccio from Siena

Creator of the "Maesta" altarpiece in the Siena Cathedral, with elegant panels decorated with images on religious themes. Byzantine influences are traced in his manner of creativity.

Giotto

Master of creating wall paintings. The most striking work is the painting in the Chapel del Arena church. Giotto's style has almost no influences - it is pure gothic, filled with dynamics.

Simone Martini

One of the brightest creators of Florence. The work "The Way to Calvary" is distinguished by the brightness of colors, fullness of dynamics.

Rococo painting style

Traini

The creator of the famous fresco in the covered cemetery next to the Pisa Cathedral.

Michelino da Besozzo

Famous painter and creator of miniatures in the style of international gothic.

American Gothic - Grant Wood. 1930. Oil on canvas. 74 x 62 cm

Without exaggeration, we can say that the painting "American Gothic" is one of the most recognizable in the world, comparable to, or. Over the years of its existence, the masterpiece has become the victim of many parodies and memes. There is even a very sinister interpretation of the plot. But what meaning did the author himself put into his "American Gothic"?

The painting was created in 1930 during the Great Depression. In the city of Eldon, Grant Wood noticed a neat house, created in the style of a carpenter's Gothic. The artist wanted to depict the house and its potential residents - father and daughter, an old maid (according to other sources, this is a wife and husband). The models were the painter's sister and his personal dentist. The unusual exposition of the painting is nothing more than an imitation of photographs of those years.

The characters are depicted very clearly and clearly. The man looks at the viewer, a pitchfork is tightly clenched in his hands. A woman with a strict bun at the back of her head looks away, she is wearing an apron with an old-fashioned pattern. The author allowed only one bunch to break out of the girl's laconic hairstyle. In the stern faces of the heroes and their compressed lips, many art historians find hostility and outright ugliness. Other very authoritative researchers guessed in the work a satire on the excessive isolation and narrow-mindedness of the inhabitants of small towns.

Meanwhile, Wood himself complained that the public misunderstood his work - he saw in the rural people precisely that effective force that could withstand the economic problems that caused the Great Depression. These residents of towns and villages are full of determination and courage to fight problems. The artist said that the heroes of his work are a collective image, which he associates with all of America. However, the inhabitants of the town of Elton did not heed the author's explanations, they were outraged and angry at the way Wood presented them in his work.

Is this a daughter or a wife? The answer to this question is also very interesting. The viewer is inclined to "read" this heroine as a wife, while Wood's sister, who was a model, insisted that she was a daughter. She just wanted to see herself in the famous work younger, because at the time of posing she was only 30 years old.

The pitchfork is the central element of the painting. The strict, straight lines of the teeth of this agricultural tool are also read in other details of the canvas. The seams of the man's shirt almost perfectly follow the contours of the pitchfork. It seems that the whole work consists of referring to straight vertical lines - the exterior of the house, the spire, the elongated windows and the faces of the characters themselves. Dentist Byron McKeeby, whom we see as a father-husband, recalled that the artist once noted that he liked his face because it consisted entirely of straight lines.

The public reacted with interest to the work of Grant Wood, as soon as she appeared in an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. This is amazing, but not everyone agreed with the author's interpretation of the work, although they recognized that the painter managed to very accurately "grab" the American national spirit. After the Great Depression gave way to an ordinary stable life, the viewer was finally able to see the picture through the eyes of the creator, to see not harsh, but unshakable Americans who are ready not to fight, but to resist all troubles.

The key direction of the art of the Middle Ages was Gothic.

It covered the culture that developed in most regions of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.

Gothic arose in the northern region of France in the 12th century, and in the next century it appeared in England and Germany, and then in Austria, the Czech Republic and Spain. Later, the Gothic style reached Italy. After an intensive transformation, "Italian Gothic" was formed, and at the end of the 14th century - international. Eastern European artists became acquainted with the Gothic direction later, in their homeland it lasted a little longer - almost until the 16th century.

During the Renaissance, this definition pejoratively denoted all the art of the Middle Ages, recognized "barbaric". But at the beginning of the 19th century for craftsmanship 10-12 centuries. used the concept of the Romanesque style and, accordingly, limited the chronological framework of the Gothic style. Phases were distinguished in it: early period, mature and late.

In European countries, the Catholic Church ruled, so the Gothic ideology retained feudal-church foundations. By purpose, Gothic was mainly cult and thematically religious. She was compared with eternity and "higher" powers.

It was characterized by a symbolic-allegorical way of thinking and a conventional pictorial language.

This style replaced the Romanesque, and later completely replaced it. The concept of this direction is usually applied to architectural objects. It also embraced painting, ornamentation, book miniatures, sculpture, and so on.

It is worth noting that its origin in architecture, especially in famous cathedrals, coincided with the triumphant era of Romanesque painting, namely fresco.

Over time, other types of decorative art took on a key role in the decoration of temples, as a result of which painting was pushed to another level. The replacement of solid walls in Gothic cathedrals with large windows caused the complete disappearance of the genre of monumental painting, which occupied a special place in the Romanesque style. The fresco was replaced by stained glass, a unique type of painting in which paintings are made up of pieces of painted glass, fastened with thin lead strips and framed with iron fittings.

Gothic art artists

Gothic features in art appeared several decades later than those in architecture. Note that in France and England there was a transition from the Romanesque direction to the Gothic in the 1200s, in Germany - in the 1220s, and in Italy - approximately in the 1300s.

A feature of Gothic art are elongated figures.

Painting was subject to strict canons. Masters of the brush in their paintings depicted the three-dimensionality of space quite rarely. Such a prospect was accidental and highly doubtful.

At the end of the 14th century, there was a desire for elegant and sophisticated writing in art, as well as an interest in real life subjects. The smallest details of flora and fauna have become constant elements in painting.

International Gothic appeared - this is the direction of the late period of the Middle Ages, which united the painting of many countries.

Art flourished in France in the 13th and 14th centuries book miniature. It showed a secular beginning. So, for example, secular literature expanded the range of illustrated manuscripts. They began to create richly painted psalters and books of hours for home use.

The manuscript from Gothic times changed the appearance of the pages. Thus, the illustration was filled with sonorous purity colors, included realistic elements, combined floral ornamentation, biblical and everyday scenes. A characteristic feature of the manuscripts of the 13th century was the border framing the margin of the page.

The artists placed on the pages swirls of ornament adorning the fields, lines framing small figures, and comic or genre scenes. The content of the manuscripts did not always have a connection with them. These were the fantasies of the miniaturists. They were called "droleri" - that is, fun. In the late Gothic miniatures, the tendencies of realism were expressed with special immediacy, the first successes were made in the transfer of everyday paintings and landscapes. Soon, artists rushed to a reliable and detailed depiction of nature.

The most famous representatives of the book miniature of the Gothic era were the Limburg brothers.

Christ in Glory, Limburg Brothers Miniature of the Earl of Westmorland with His Twelve Children, Limburg Brothers The Madonna and the Child, The Limburg Brothers

This was facilitated by the stained-glass windows that filled the huge surfaces of the windows, their compositions reproduced apocryphal legends, historical events, religious and literary subjects, as well as images of scenes from the life and work of craft corporations, peasants, representing a kind of encyclopedia of the medieval way of life. Each window is filled from top to bottom with figured compositions enclosed in medallions. The stained-glass window technique, which made it possible to combine the color and light principles of painting, gave these compositions increased emotionality. Fiery, pomegranate-colored, deep scarlet, red, yellow, green, ultramarine, light blue and dark blue glasses, cut according to the contour of the pattern, letting in outside light, burned like precious gems, transforming the entire interior of the temple, setting a person in a sublime mood.

Gothic color glass created new aesthetic values ​​- it gave the paint the highest sonority of a pure radiant color. Generating the atmosphere of a colored air environment, playing on the floor, columns, stained glass was perceived as a source of light that deepened the perspective. Uneven, but rather thick glasses were often with bubbles and not completely transparent - this enhanced the artistic effect produced by the stained glass. Penetrating through the uneven thickness of the glass, the light was crushed, played. The best authentic Gothic stained-glass windows are in the cathedrals of Chartres ("Our Lady and Child"), Paris, Bourges. The "dark purple rose" of Reims Cathedral, the "throwing lightning" "fiery wheels" of Chartres Cathedral are magnificent.

In the middle of the 13th century, complex colors were introduced into the colorful range, which were formed by duplicating glasses (Saint-Chapelle, 1250). The contours of the drawing on the glass were applied with brown enamel paint, the forms had a planar character. In the Gothic era, the art of miniature, the art of the medieval book, reached its peak. Their development was caused by the strengthening of secular tendencies in culture. Even in the illustrations with multi-figure compositions of religious content, subtly observed realistic details were included: ornaments from plant motifs, images of birds, butterflies, animals, everyday scenes, the poetic charm of which was conveyed by the French miniaturist Jean Pussel. The leading place in the development of French miniatures of the 13th and 14th centuries belonged to the Parisian school. In the Psalter of St. Louis (1270, Paris, Louvre), multi-figure compositions are framed by one motif of Gothic architecture, which gives harmony to the narrative. The figures of knights and ladies are filled with grace - their forms are drawn with flowing lines, creating the illusion of movement. The decorative architecture of the drawing, the density and richness of the colors turn the miniatures into a decoration of the page.

The restless angular rhythm, pointed forms, the slickness of sinuous lines, the filigree of the openwork pattern distinguish the style of the Gothic book. In the 14th-15th centuries, secular manuscripts were also illustrated - scientific treatises, books of hours, chronicles, collections of love songs. In the works of courtly literature, the ideal of chivalrous love was embodied in miniature, scenes of the surrounding life were reproduced (Manes manuscript, about 1320). Enhanced storytelling. In the "Great French Chronicles" (end of the 14th century), the artist sought to penetrate the meaning of the depicted event - these are real illustrations of a literary work. At the same time, the book was given a decorative elegance with the help of bizarre frames and exquisite vignettes. The miniature brought a lively stream into medieval art, influencing painting as well.

Gothic art is an important link in the overall development of culture; gothic works, spiritual and majestic, have a unique aesthetic charm. Gothic art gave rise to a new understanding of the synthesis of arts. The realistic conquests of Gothic, whose masters often reproduce the image of their contemporary in the natural and object environment, prepared the transition to the art of the Renaissance.