Sunday, August 21, 2011

Introducing a New Art Critic

The National Public Radio station in Wichita, Kansas - KMUW - has a new art critic.  (Am I the only one who reads "art critic" but hears Monty Python saying, "Aaaaaaaut Critik"?)

Here's a thoughtful piece by Lindsey Herkommer on two Midwestern American Gothics: the first, the iconic painting by Grant Wood, the second, an important photo by Gordon Parks.

American Gothic by Grant Wood - image borrowed from KMUW radio


There's something really compelling about Wood's image of this farmer and his daughter.  I love many paintings from the 1930s - Hopper's slanting sunlight on hillsides, WPA murals of noble factory workers, Texas dust-bowl paintings of bony cattle, wire fences, cotton boles... but this double portrait has presence that seems out of its period.  

It feels a little like a Renaissance portrait, reminding me of Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Marriage.  I think it's the formal, self-conscious poses of the subjects: the men's severity and vertical gestures and the way the women incline their heads, deferential to the men, but staring off into a private distance.

The Arnolfini Marriage by Jan van Eyck

Hard to imagine two painted couples with more different lives or times.

3 comments:

  1. Clare, I love reading your observations and comments, learning more English words and expressions as a very welcome bonus!.
    coby (again not anonymous but that seems to be the best option here.... :-) )

    PS: had a bit of trouble ordering your book but it is now on its way so more reading in the near future (as if I don't have enough to read already)
    Probably not good that a PS is longer than the main part of the text.
    Have you read HhhH by Laurent Binet? Very intriguing (correct spelling?), fascinating, he is a great commentator too. I don't know the title in English. Will try and find out.

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  2. Thanks! I'll look for Binet at the library today (I'm desperate for new authors at the moment). Did you receive the bookplate okay?

    -Clare

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  3. Oh yes, I received your autograph a few days ago. A postcard to tell you so is on its way, but that will take a while.
    How about looking for Stephen Fry's books? Very British and very likable. I am trying to get the 2nd part of his autobiography, called (I think) The Fry Chronicles. I am making a list of books to look for when we are in NY in October.
    coby

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