Keywords

American Gothic, Grant Woods, racial injustice, Gordon Parks

Abstract

GRANT WOOD'S American Gothic (1930) has likely been reproduced, parodied, and lampooned more than any other painting in American history (Figure 1). As scholars Wanda Corn, Steven Biel, and others have observed, the scene of an Iowa farmer and his daughter (often erroneously thought to be his wife) has proven to be remarkably adaptable for nearly a century.¹ An early example of its adoption occurred 11 years after Wood's work was finished, when it was appropriated by Gordon Parks, a young Black photographer. Created for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and under the aegis of administrator Roy Stryker, Parks substituted Wood's Iowans with the African American charwoman who scrubbed the floors of his New Deal office (Figure 2). He intended his photograph to be a protest against the racial and social injustice Parks saw and experienced in Washington, D.C. When asked about his photograph, he admitted that he posed his subject, Ella Watson, in what he called "a Grant Wood Style."²

Original Publication Citation

“On Uncommon Ground: Grant Wood and Russell Lee’s Divergent View of Iowa, December 1936,” The Annals of Iowa (Summer 2022): 239-275.