Equality through Art: A New Reading of American Gothic

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.i Equality has been a defining characteristic of America since its inception. Yet the definition of this key tenet has not always been self evident. What about women? What about people with a skin color other than white? Throughout the history of America true equality has been a struggle, whether gender, racial, or even geographical. While the battle for equality can be waged with many types of weapons perhaps one of the strongest is art. Gordon Parks spent much of his life looking for the right weapon to fight racism and injustice. Through a tumultuous teenage life Parks often considered using his fists or violence when besotted with the evils of racism; yet remembering his brothers admonition that his brain is more powerful than his fists Parks eventually found his most powerful tool, photography.ii Art has the power to reach more persons than a gun and can reveal more information, often in a way which engages the mind and the soul. American Gothic, Washington, D.C. is one such powerful weapon exposed with the firing of a shutter in 1942, years before the heyday of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Parks American Gothic, Washington, D.C. portrait conveys in a straightforward

2011, Derek Hanson. All Rights Reserved.

manner the poignant details of what it meant to be an American in the 1940s. The woman photographed is pulled straight up to the picture plane and staunchly stares back at the camera with a stern, yet hauntingly sad expression. She proudly holds the tools of her trade, a broom in her right hand and a mop in her left, yet her eyes and the lack of a distinguishable expression on her face appear to show someone desiring of something better, seemingly stuck in a dead end job. This is not the portrait of a beaming mechanic standing proudly in his shop or a cheery business owner posing in front of his livelihood. Instead, this is a despondent African-American woman stuck in a career and socioeconomic level she cannot escape not for a lack of education but because of the color of her skin. Yet this portrait would likely not have nearly the impact it has had on history were it not for the deliberately chosen background. The colossal American flag in the background sends forth the clear message that this woman is an American. She is not posed in front of objects intended to identify her as a female or an African-American. Instead she transcends these aspects to become something larger, a full-fledged American. This is the bullet which strikes the mind of those viewing the image. Establishing the woman as an American is a stark reminder that she is just as American as her white contemporaries. She works just as hard, if not harder, than they do and displays all of the American traits of hard work, independence, practicality, determination and raw emotion cherished by Americans. The fact that an American citizen is held back from advancing her career because of her skin and nothing else should have shocked and appalled viewers at the time. Possibly the argument for equality evinced by this photograph is what caused Parks boss, Roy Stryker, the well renowned leader of the FSA, to utter the phrase Youre going to get us all fired upon first seeing this work.iii But what does Parks work have to do with the original American Gothic by Grant Wood from which it derives its name? The two works, while both depicting human subjects holding the

2011, Derek Hanson. All Rights Reserved.

tools of their trade are seemingly worlds apart. Parks janitor is an African-American working in the city. Woods male and female subjects are distinctly white agriculturalists working in the country. Is the only relation between the two merely the similarities in the pose? Perhaps there is something deeper lurking. As hinted above, Parks subject can be read as standing boldly in the face of inequality, a hard-working American held back because of her race. The two figures in Woods work also stand boldly in the face of inequality. While both figures are of the ethnic majority in America they are represented as hard-working farmers from the Midwest, a profession and region much maligned as backwoods and unworthy of the prestige of the East Coast in the early 20th Century. This perceived geographic inequality was a major theme of both Grant Woods art and his writings. Grant Wood, painter of the original American Gothic, was a staunch Regionalist. Appearing five years after the painting of American Gothic, Woods famous essay Revolt Against the City advocated equality in America not of race, but amongst the different regions of the country. Although often interpreted as a satirical work, American Gothic can easily be read as an ode to the qualities that make the Midwest a portrait of what it means to be American; down-to-earth, hard-working, determined people proud of the work they do. The two figures, whether husband and wife or father and daughter, are portrayed with slender, elongated faces which reveal the tenacity with which they pursue their work. These are not voluptuous, well fed

2011, Derek Hanson. All Rights Reserved.

figures, but those who obviously put in a full days work. The determination with which this work is pursued is evident on their faces in the clenched jaws, pursed lips and direct gazes. The man grasps the hay fork tightly, suggesting a sense of pride in his work. The overalls reveal that this is a man of the earth, a farmer who depends on hard work and determination to stay alive. The woman is no slouch either. The apron she wears and countenance of her face reveal one well versed in domesticity and the making and maintaining of a home. Although Woods interpretation of how he intended the work to be read varied with timeiv the key to its interpretation can be found by viewing the work within the framework of Woods essays and how it fit into his oeuvre. Wood cherished his Iowa homeland and the rest of the Midwest and saw this region denigrated by a cultural bias towards the East Coast. American Gothic represents a use of art by Wood to argue for the equality of the Midwest region with all of the others in America. As Wood noted, while the Midwest may lack scenes of the picturepostcard type it seems to be more sincere and honest, and to gain in depth by having to be hunted for. Its beauty is found as the result of analysis, and therefore is less obscured by picturesque surface quality. v Wood also waxed about the rugged individualism of the typical Midwestern resident and the aspects which make this region and its people of great value to the country. The figures and their portrayal in American Gothic can thus be seen as a pictorial representation of Woods essay. Through the depiction of two patently hard working Americans in front of a housing style and landscape which mark the scene as clearly that of the Midwest, Wood is showing the viewer two very proud Americans challenging anyone to tell them they are less American or equal than a resident of an East Coast city. Similarly, the figure in Parks reinterpretation of American Gothic engenders the same qualities. Steadfastly holding her ground in front of a dramatically large American flag, the

2011, Derek Hanson. All Rights Reserved.

woman in the photograph is read as an American not by a distinctly Midwestern background but by a patent symbol of her country. The use of an African-American subject as the victim of discrimination is a common theme in Parks oeuvre. This theme is not accidental; Parks made a conscious decision early on in his career to seek to fight the injustice of discrimination not by showing the perpetrators, but by showing the victims.vi Parks reasoning clearly makes sense. Attempting to show the verbal hatred or social snubs which have rained down upon AfricanAmericans throughout the centuries in America would be a fruitless campaign. Words and actions are not easily translatable to still images. A white man speaking in a photograph could be saying anything. In addition, as Parks notes, such a man looks too much like an average person, the man next door. To truly show the impacts of racism through photography one must focus upon either the victims themselves, as Parks did, or the physical brutality and abuse evident in pictures of in-the-moment action, such as many brilliant photojournalists like Charles Moore did throughout the civil rights era.vii Both Woods original American Gothic and Parks reinterpretation of it are pictorial representations of the injustices which their respective creators battled throughout their careers and lives. While racism has yet to be fully eradicated and the Midwest continues to be the whipping boy of the coasts the march toward true equality has clearly progressed because of these two famous works of art. The down-home Midwestern nature of the subjects in Woods work clearly resonate with Americans as it is arguably the single most recognizable painting to our citizens.viii While less famous than its progenitor, Parks photograph is his single most recognizable work and has been an inspiration to many, from photographers to viewers, both past and present. That is the beauty of art which both of these artists realized, it has the power to transcend time, lasting longer than a bullet or a fist and reaching millions more through its

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reprinting and display. Let us hope for the sake of humanity that the message of equality portrayed in each of these works will continue to reach, inspire and influence Americans for years to come.

Photo Credits: Gordon Parks American Gothic, Washington, D.C. 1942. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection. Washington, D.C. Grant Wood American Gothic 1930. Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, Illinois. Endnotes: i Declaration of Independence, 1776. ii Gordon Parks autobiography, A Choice of Weapons (Minnesota Historical Society Press. St. Paul, Minnesota. 1986.) reveals the chronological, natural progression of this choice made by Parks and the events which sparked it. iii Page 38 from The Photographs of Gordon Parks. Martin H. Bush. Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art. Wichita, Kansas. 1983. iv Steven Biels book, American Gothic: A Life of Americas Most Famous Painting (W. W. Norton & Company. New York, New York. 2005) shows how Woods interpretation of the work changed over the years, seemingly influenced by the responses he received both in the press and personally. v Page 28 from Revolt Against the City. Grant Wood. Number One Whirling World Series. Clio Press. Iowa City, Iowa. 1935. vi Parks reveals this strategy in his interview featured in Martin H. Bushs The Photographs of Gordon Parks (Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art. Wichita, Kansas. 1983.) vii Charles Moore, perhaps the most famous photojournalist of the 1960s Civil Rights era, is now the focus of a book on his photographs, Powerful Days: The Civil Rights Photography of Charles Moore (University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 2007). viii While no specific study or survey can be cited the sheer volume of parodies of the work and the title of Harvard historian Steven Biels book on the painting, American Gothic: A Life of Americas Most Famous Painting, support this claim.

2011, Derek Hanson. All Rights Reserved.