American Gothic
Grant Wood (1930)
Grant Wood’s American Gothic (1930) turns a plain Midwestern homestead into a <strong>moral emblem</strong> by binding two flinty figures to the strict geometry of a Carpenter Gothic gable and a three‑tined pitchfork. The painting’s cool precision and echoing verticals create a <strong>compressed ethic of work, order, and restraint</strong> that can read as both tribute and critique <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup><sup>[3]</sup>.
