Carpenter Gothic
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| - | '''''American Gothic''''' is a [[painting]] by [[Grant Wood]], from [[1930]]. Portraying a [[pitchfork]]-holding farmer and his daughter in front of a house of [[Carpenter Gothic]] style, it is one of the most familiar images in 20th century [[American art]]. | + | '''Carpenter Gothic''', also sometimes called '''Carpenter's Gothic''', and '''Rural Gothic''', is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] architectural detailing and [[picturesque]] massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters. The abundance of North American timber and the carpenter-built [[vernacular architecture]]s based upon it made a picturesque improvisation upon Gothic a natural evolution. Carpenter Gothic improvises upon features that were carved in stone in authentic [[Gothic architecture]], whether original or in more scholarly revival styles; however, in the absence of the restraining influence of genuine Gothic structures, the style was freed to improvise and emphasize charm and quaintness rather than fidelity to received models. The genre received its impetus from the publication by [[Alexander Jackson Davis]], ''Rural Residences'' and from detailed plans and elevations in publications by [[Andrew Jackson Downing]]. |
| - | Wood wanted to depict the traditional roles of men and women as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hand labor. Wood referenced late 19th century photography and posed his sitters in a manner reminiscent of early American portraiture. | ||
| - | == Creation == | + | ==See also== |
| - | In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in "Carpenter Gothic" architecture in [[Eldon, Iowa]]. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house." He recruited his sister Nan to model the women, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th century [[Americana]]. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Byron McKeeby of [[Cedar Rapids, Iowa]]. The three-pronged pitchfork was echoed in the stitching of the man's clothing, the windows of the house, and the structure of the man's face. However, each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house. | + | * [[American Gothic]] |
| + | * [[Gothic Revival]] | ||
| + | * [[Andrew Jackson Downing]] | ||
| + | * [[Richard Upjohn]] | ||
| + | * [[Springside (Matthew Vassar Estate)|Springside]] | ||
| + | * [[Structure relocation]] | ||
| + | * [[United Hebrews of Ocala]], a Carpenter Gothic synagogue | ||
| + | * [[Wedding Cake House (Kennebunkport, Maine)]]. Called the "most photographed building in Maine," it is an example of Carpenter Gothic remodeling of a frame building originally built in another style of architecture. | ||
| + | * [[Harmony School, School District No. 53]] in rural [[Otoe County, Nebraska]] is an example of a Carpenter Gothic [[one-room school]]house. | ||
| - | == Reception == | + | {{GFDL}} |
| - | Wood entered the painting in a competition at the [[Art Institute of Chicago]]. The judges deemed it a "comic valentine," but a museum patron convinced them to award the painting the third medal and $300 cash prize. The patron also convinced the Art Institute to buy the painting, where it remains today. The image soon began to be reproduced in newspapers, first by the ''[[Chicago Evening Post]]'' and then in [[New York]], [[Boston]], [[Kansas City]], and [[Indianapolis]]. However, Wood received a backlash when the image finally appeared in the ''[[The Gazette (Cedar Rapids)|Cedar Rapids Gazette]]''. Iowans were furious at their depiction as "pinched, grim-faced, puritanical Bible-thumpers". One farmwife threatened to bite Wood's ear off. Wood protested that he had not painted a caricature of Iowans but a depiction of Americans. Nan, apparently embarrased at being depicted as the wife of someone twice her age, began telling people that the painting was of a man and his daughter, a point on which Wood remained silent. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Art critics who had favorable opinions about the painting, such as [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Christopher Morley]], also assumed the painting was meant to be a satire of rural small-town life. It was thus seen as part of the trend towards increasingly critical depictions of rural America, along the lines of [[Sherwood Anderson]]'s ''1919 [[Winesburg, Ohio (novel)|Winesburg, Ohio]]'', [[Sinclair Lewis]]' 1920 ''[[Main Street (novel)|Main Street]]'', and [[Carl Van Vechten]]'s ''[[The Tattooed Countess]]'' in literature. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | However, with the onset of the [[Great Depression]], the painting came to be seen as a depiction of steadfast American pioneer spirit. Wood assisted this transition by renouncing his Bohemian youth in [[Paris]] and grouping himself with populist Midwestern painters, such as [[John Steuart Curry]] and [[Thomas Hart Benton (painter)|Thomas Hart Benton]], who revolted against the dominance of East Coast art circles. Wood was quoted in this period as stating, "All the good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow." This Depression-era understanding of the painting as a depiction of an authentically American scene prompted the first well-known parody, a 1942 photo by [[Gordon Parks]] of cleaning woman Ella Watson, shot in [[Washington, D.C.]] | + | |
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| - | == Parodies == | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ''American Gothic'' is one of the few images to reach the status of cultural icon, along with [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s ''[[Mona Lisa]]'' and [[Edvard Munch]]'s ''[[The Scream]]''.<ref name=slate/> It is thus one of the most reproduced — and [[parody|parodied]] — images ever. Many artists have replaced the two people with other known couples and replaced the house with well known houses. References and parodies of the image have been numerous for generations, appearing regularly in such media as [[postcard]]s, [[magazine]]s, [[animated cartoons]], [[advertisement]]s, [[comic book]]s, and [[television show]]s. {{GFDL}} | + | |
Revision as of 00:30, 30 December 2012
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Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters. The abundance of North American timber and the carpenter-built vernacular architectures based upon it made a picturesque improvisation upon Gothic a natural evolution. Carpenter Gothic improvises upon features that were carved in stone in authentic Gothic architecture, whether original or in more scholarly revival styles; however, in the absence of the restraining influence of genuine Gothic structures, the style was freed to improvise and emphasize charm and quaintness rather than fidelity to received models. The genre received its impetus from the publication by Alexander Jackson Davis, Rural Residences and from detailed plans and elevations in publications by Andrew Jackson Downing.
See also
- American Gothic
- Gothic Revival
- Andrew Jackson Downing
- Richard Upjohn
- Springside
- Structure relocation
- United Hebrews of Ocala, a Carpenter Gothic synagogue
- Wedding Cake House (Kennebunkport, Maine). Called the "most photographed building in Maine," it is an example of Carpenter Gothic remodeling of a frame building originally built in another style of architecture.
- Harmony School, School District No. 53 in rural Otoe County, Nebraska is an example of a Carpenter Gothic one-room schoolhouse.
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