American Gothic: Well-Known American Regionalist Artist Grant Wood

American Gothic was painted in 1930, during the Great Depression, by the well-known American regionalist artist Grant Wood. The artwork represents Wood’s regionalist style as the subject matter contains a setting from his boyhood home of Iowa. In the composition, Wood painted a couple who stand in front of a Carpenter Gothic style home, with what appears to be a farm shed to its right. The painting contains a couple in the foreground, a man and a woman, appear to be a father and his daughter looking out ahead of them. The man wears what looks like to be a suit jacket, and underneath; overalls and a work shirt. While the female wears prim clothing with patterns on what could be interpreted as a dress. Both the man and woman have serious facial expressions which can be interpreted to represent the emotions of people in the Midwestern United States during the Great Depression. Through the composition, Wood reveals to the audience that the Great Depression affected Grant Wood in a very personal way, influencing him as a painter.

First of all, the choice of people to model the couple was key to revealing the meaning behind the painting. As Wood uses his sister and his dentist to paint the couple present in American Gothic. This communicates the idea that this was personal to

As the American Gothic House Center states, “The American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa is famous as the backdrop of Grant Wood’s 1930 painting American Gothic.”. Therefore, the house also represents Wood’s childhood community because the house was apart of his childhood. Furthermore, because the house was owned by the couple affected by the depression, the couple could lose the house. Which means that because of the economic downturn, Wood’s childhood community could be endangered. Thus, revealing to the audience the effects of the Great Depression on Wood