Grant Wood : American Gothic and other fables

Grant Wood American Gothic and other fables

Barbara Haskell

Book - 2018

The social and political climate in which Wood's art flourished bears certain striking similarities to America today, as national identity and the tension between urban and rural areas reemerge as polarizing issues in a country facing the consequences of globalization and the technological revolution. Wood portrayed the tension and alienation of contemporary experience. By fusing meticulously observed reality with fables of childhood, he crafted unsettling images of estrangement and apprehension that pictorially manifest the anxiety of modern life.

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759.13/Wood
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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 759.13/Wood Due Jan 28, 2025
Subjects
Wood, Grant, > 1891-1942 > Exhibitions.
Painters > United States > History > Exhibitions.
Published
New York : Whitney Museum of American Art [2018]
Language
English
Main Author
Barbara Haskell (author)
Item Description
Catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables, organized by Barbara Haskell, curator; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 2-June 10, 2018.
Physical Description
271 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 32 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-257) and index.
ISBN
9780300232844
  • Foreword / Adam D. Weinberg
  • Grant Wood: through the past, darkly / Barbara Haskell
  • Willow, weep for me / Glenn Adamson
  • Moments of discovery: Grant Wood's theatrical paintings / Shirley Reece-Hughes
  • Like a book: Grant Wood's literary associations / Eric Banks
  • Cryptic corn: Magic realism and the art of Grant Wood / Emily Braun
  • Grant Wood goes gay / Richard Meyer
  • Plates
  • Grant Wood: a chronicle / Barbara Haskell.
Review by Library Journal Review

When looking at Grant Wood's (1891-1942) iconic painting American Gothic, viewers may see a simple portrait of a farming couple. This catalog accompanying an exhibition at New York City's Whitney Museum offers a deeper study of Wood's oeuvre by Whitney curator Haskell and several art historians and scholars. On a 1928 trip to Munich, Germany, Wood saw works by Flemish primitive painter Hans Memling and contemporary works by Neue Sachlichkeit ("new objectivity") painters, prompting a stylistic change. Emily Braun (European & American art, Hunter Coll., City Univ. of New York) calls Wood "a practitioner of magic realism," which flourished between the World Wars. Magic realism is seen in Wood's tactile forms, scrupulous detail, ultrasharp focus, and illogical perspective. Wood's "magic" means something is hidden behind what is represented; his "realism" does not mean a return to naturalism. Lavishly illustrated, this volume includes 105 full-page plates, numerous in-text illustrations, and an additional checklist of the exhibition with dimensions, owner/museum, medium, and lenders. VERDICT This readable catalog will be of interest to art historians and students, those who follow surrealism, metaphysical painting, and other contemporary movements.-Nancy J. Mactague, formerly Aurora Univ. Lib., IL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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