In American Gothic, Grant Wood directly evoked images of an earlier generation by featuring a farmer and his daughter posed stiffly and dressed as if they were, as the artist put it, “tintypes from my old family album.” They stand outside of their home, built in an 1880s style known as Carpenter Gothic. Wood had seen a similar farmhouse during a visit to Eldon, Iowa.
When it was exhibited at the Art Institute in 1930, the painting became an instant sensation, its ambiguity prompting viewers to speculate about the figures and their story. Many understood the work to be a satirical comment on midwesterners out of step with a modernizing world. Yet Wood intended it to convey a positive image of rural American values, offering a vision of reassurance at the beginning of the Great Depression.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Signed and dated recto, bottom-right, on overalls, in light blue paint: "GRANT / WOOD / 1930".
Dimensions
78 × 65.3 cm (30 3/4 × 25 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number
1930.934
Extended information about this artwork
“Prize Awards in the Annual American Exhibition,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 24, no. 9 (Dec. 1930): 120, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4103927.
Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of the Forty-Third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1930), n.p., cat. 207 (ill.).
Albright Art Gallery, Twenty-Fifth Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, exh. cat. (Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1931), 26, cat. 139 (ill.).
“Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1931 26 no. 2 (Feb. 1932): 70.
“Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1933 28, no. 3 (Mar. 1934): 71, 73.
“Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1934 29, no. 3 (Mar. 1935): 72.
“Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1935 30, no. 3 (Mar. 1936): 68.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Half a Century of American Art,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 33, no. 6 (Nov. 1939): 97, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4114023.
Anita Brenner, “Is There An American Art?,” The New York Times Magazine, Nov. 23, 1941, 13 (ill.).
Frederick S. Wight and Lloyd Goodrich, Milestones of American Painting in Our Century (Chanticleer Press, 1949), 30, 74–75, pl. 21 (ill.).
Aline B. Louchheim, “A New Yorker Visits the Art Institute,” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 46, no. 2 (Apr. 1, 1952): 23, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4112565.
“People and Events: Portraits on Television,” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 50, no. 2 (Apr. 1, 1956): 39, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4112563.
Henri Dorra, The American Muse (Viking Press, 1961), 124, 156 (ill.).
“Lecturer’s Choice: Fifteen Minute Gallery Talks for Summer,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 67, no. 3 (May-June 1973): 11, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4111255.
Matthew Baigell, The American Scene: American Painting of the 1930s (Praeger Publishers, 1974), 1, 12, 18, 109–111 (ill.).
Wanda Corn, “The Painting that Became a Symbol of a Nation’s Spirit,” Smithsonian 11, no. 8 (Nov. 1980): 84–96, (ill.).
Wanda M. Corn, Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision, exh. cat. (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1982), 3, 25–26, 33, 35, 60, 128–142, pl. 32 (ill.).
Wanda M. Corn, “The Birth of a National Icon: Grant Wood’s American Gothic,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 10 (1983): 253–75, fig. 1 (ill.), https://doi.org/10.2307/4104340.
Brady M. Roberts, Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed (Davenport Museum of Art, 1995), 24, 69–73, 96–98, cat. 16, pl. 16 (ill.).
James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein, The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth–Century Painting and Sculpture (Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), 67 (ill.).
James M. Dennis, Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 14, 19–20, 100–02, fig. 7 (ill.).
Lea Rosson DeLong, Grant Wood’s Main Street: Art, Literature and the American Midwest, exh. cat. (Brunnier Art Museum, University Art Museums, Iowa State University, 2004), 17–18, 24, 27–29, 39, 97, 104, 106, 159, 203, 205, 207, fig. 12 (ill.).
Thomas Hoving, American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood’s American Masterpiece (Chamberlain Bros., 2005).
Stephen Biel, American Gothic: A Life of America’s Most Famous Painting (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005).
Sue Taylor, “Grant Wood’s Family Album,” American Art 19, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 48–67.
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), cat. 79 (ill.).
Laura Hoptman, “Wyeth: Christina’s World,” One on One (Museum of Modern Art, 2012), 4 (ill.).
James Rondeau, Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 2017), 123 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, “Prolog: Ein neue Welt der Kunst,” in Es war einmal in Amerika: 300 Jahre US-Amerikanische Kunst [Once Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of American Art], ed. Barbara Schaefer and Anita Hachmann (Wienand Verlag, 2018), 24, fig. 10 (ill.).
Cedar Rapids, IA, Little Gallery of the American Federation of Arts, Feb. 1931.
Buffalo, NY, Albright Art Gallery, Twenty–Fifth Annual Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists, Apr. 26–June 22, 1931, cat. 139.
San Diego Fine Art Gallery, Show of Contemporary Eastern Painting [probably], c. June 1932, no cat.; Santa Barbara, CA, Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery, c. Aug. 1932.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Paintings and Prints by Chicago Artists, Feb. 28–Mar. 30, 1933, cat. 37, ill. frontispiece.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 666, pl. 92.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Contemporary American Painting, Mar. 31–Apr. 30, 1934.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–Nov. 1, 1934, cat. 716.
Chicago, Lakeside Press Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by Grant Wood, Feb–Mar. 1935, cat. 33, ill. p. 23.
New York, Ferargil Galleries, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Grant Wood, Mar–Apr. 1935, cat. 15.
Kansas City, MO, William R. Nelson Gallery, Oct. 2–Nov. 8, 1935.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Centennial Exposition, June 6–Nov. 29, 1936, cat. 15, ill. p. 64.
Chicago Woman’s Club, Jan. 20, 1937.
Bloomington, IL, Central Illinois Art Exposition, Mar. 19–Apr. 8, 1939, cat. 106, ill. p. 29.
Iowa City, Fine Arts Festival, Iowa Union Lounge, University of Iowa, Exhibition of Paintings by Grant Wood and Marvin D. Cone, July 16–23, 1939, cat. 23.
Art Institute of Chicago, Half a Century of American Art, Nov. 16, 1939–Jan. 7, 1940, cat. 178, pl. 46.
Bloomfield Hills, MI, Cranbrook Academy of Art, May 17–June 6, 1940.
Northampton, MA, Smith College Museum of Art, American Art: Aspects of American Painting, 1900–1940, June 12–22, 1940, cat. 33.
Worcester Art Museum, A Decade of American Painting 1930–1940, Feb. 18–Mar. 22, 1942, ill. p. 23.
Cedar Rapids Art Association, Grant Wood Memorial Exhibition, Sept. 1–Oct. 1, 1942, no cat. See Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9/6/1942.
Art Institute of Chicago, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Grant Wood, included in the Fifty–third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Oct. 29–Dec. 12, 1942, cat. 2, color ill. frontispiece.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, 20th Century Portraits, Dec. 8, 1942–Jan. 24, 1943, p. 145, ill. p. 99.
Baltimore, MD, Feb. 12–Mar. 7, 1943.
Worcester Art Museum, Mar. 17–Apr. 19, 1943.
Boston, The Institute of Modern Art, Ten Americans, Oct. 20–Nov. 21, 1943, cat. 29, ill.
Saginaw, MI, Saginaw Museum of Art, An Exhibition of American Painting from Colonial Times until Today, Jan. 10–Feb. 15, 1948, cat. 71, pl. 13.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Famous American Paintings, Oct. 9–31, 1948, n.pag., ill.
Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Milestones of American Painting in Our Century, c. Jan. 2–c. Mar. 3, 1949, cat. 21.
Montreal, Canada, Mar. 18–Apr. 20, 1949.
Canadian National Exhibition Art Exhibit, Aug. 26–Sept. 10, 1949.
Dayton, OH, Dayton Art Institute, The Artist and His Family, Mar. 3–Apr. 1950, cat. 40.
Cedar Rapids, IA, Coe College, Centennial Exhibition, May 15–June 9, 1952, cat. 24.
New York, Wildenstein and Company, Landmarks in American Art, 1670–1950, Feb. 26–Mar. 28, 1953, cat. 50.
Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, 125 Years of American Art, Sept. 15–Oct. 11, 1953, cat. 59, ill. p. 18.
Dubuque, IA, Dubuque Art Association, Thirty Years of Grant Wood, Feb. 15–Feb. 23, 1955, cat. 9.
Des Moines, IA, Des Moines Art Center, Communicating Art from Midwest Collections: American and European Paintings and Sculpture, 1835–1955, Oct. 13–Nov. 6, 1955, cat. 20, ill.
Davenport, IA, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Grant Wood and the American Scene, Feb. 3–24, 1957, cat. 5, ill. p. 5.
IL, Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, June 10–16, 1957, no. 23.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Face of America: The History of Portraiture in the United States, Nov. 13, 1957–Jan. 26, 1958, cat. 92, fig. 41.
Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, The American Muse: Parallel Trends in Literature and Art, Apr. 4–May 17, 1959, cat. 130.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art in Illinois, In Honor of the Illinois Sesquicentennial, June 15–Sept. 8, 1968, p. 10.
Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Artists, 100 Years: Alumni of the SAIC, Centennial Exhibition, Nov. 23, 1979–Jan. 20, 1980, cat. 112, ill. p. 35.
New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision, June 16–Sept. 4, 1983, cat. 25, pl. 32; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Sept. 25, 1983–Jan. 1, 1984; Art Institute of Chicago, Jan. 21–Apr. 15, 1984; San Francisco, M. H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, May 12–Aug. 12, 1984.
Omaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum, Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed, Dec. 10, 1995–Feb. 25, 1996, cat. 14, pl. 16; Davenport, IA, Davenport Museum of Art, Mar. 23–Sept. 8, 1996; Worcester, MA, Worcester Art Museum, Oct. 6–Dec. 31, 1996.
New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900–1950, Apr. 23–Aug. 22, 1999, cat. 435, color ill. p. 225.
Cedar Rapids, IA, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Grant Wood at 5 Turner Alley, Sept. 10–Dec. 4, 2005.
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Grant Wood’s Studio: Birthplace of American Gothic, Mar. 10–June 11, 2006.
Des Moines Art Center, After Many Springs: Art in the Midwest in the 1930s, Jan. 30–Mar. 30, 2009.
Art Institute of Chicago, America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s, June 5–Sept. 18, 2016; Paris, Musee de l’Orangerie, Oct. 15, 2016–Jan. 30, 2017; London, Royal Academy, Feb. 25–June 4, 2017, cat. 47.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables, Mar. 2-June 10, 2018, no cat no., pl. 33, checklist p. 259.
The artist, Cedar Rapids, IA; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 1930.
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