Grant Wood's Family Life and How it Influenced His Work

(Left: Woman with Plants, photo credit to jondresner, Right: American Gothic, photo credit to Mark Heard) 

Everyone, no matter who we are, has experiences and relationships that influence their life. These relationships shape who we are and how we perceive others. This can be seen in Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic. The famous image depicts an older man and woman, presumed to be a couple, in front of their simple country home. The expressionless, blank faces on the couple are intriguing to man that observe this image and try to decipher its message. In her article “Grant Wood’s Family Album,” Taylor analyzes the aspects of Wood’s personal life with his family and interprets her beliefs of how these relationships influenced his artwork. Taylor brings to light many facts about Wood’s childhood and his relationships with his father, mother, and younger sister and analyzes the information and how it affected his famous piece American Gothic.

According to Park Rinard, Wood’s confidant, Maryville Wood, Grant’s father, was a very reserved and mysterious man. He took discipline very seriously as well. In the memoir “Return from Bohemia (Wood’s unfinished life story, recorded by Rinard),” Maryville saved a young Grant from a grazing bull’s pasture, and then whipped him for trespassing in the first place. Wood insisted that he didn’t mind the discipline, and that he had no harsh feelings towards his father. However, a theory by Taylor draws reference to a theory by Sigmund Freud that the the concepts of God and the devil are included in one’s feelings towards their father. Wood himself had said that “he was more of a god than a father to me,” in “Return from Bohemia.” Taylor’s theory is that Wood represents his father with a stern, expressionless face wielding a pitchfork, which is commonly associated with the devil. This theory is backed by other evidence, such as the man Wood used as the sitter for American Gothic. This man was Wood’s dentist, another man who caused Wood physical pain in his childhood (pulling several teeth and replacing them with a bridge). Taylor believes that by using his dentist as the sitter for the painting, Wood was able to revisit the pain from his father’s lashings and convey that into the painting, in the form of the pitchfork.

Wood had a closer relationship with the women in his family. His mother, Hattie, and sister, Nan, were the two members of his family who he kept contact with. After the death of his father, Wood stayed with his mother until her death. Taylor notes that Nan was the only sibling that Wood kept in touch with after they moved out of the family’s home. She was also the female sitter used for American Gothic. Despite this, the woman in the painting resembles the portrait of Hattie Wood, called Woman with Plants. The plant behind the woman in American Gothic is the same as the plant Hattie holds in Woman with Plants. Wood also shows Nan in the same dress wearing the same brooch as Hattie wears in Woman with Plants.

Though hard to see, the plant behind and to the left of the woman in American Gothic is the same as the one in Woman with Plants. Also, the woman wears the same black dress with the same brooch. This is Wood’s way of inserting his mother’s persona into the work. Taylor believes that Wood aimed to reunite his mother and father as a couple in front of a modest Iowa home in American Gothic. As noted above, Taylor believes that Wood’s intention with American Gothic was to psychologically reunite his mother and father. However, Wood’s sister Nan stated that the painting was of a small-town man and his daughter, not the farmer and his wife most people assume the couple to represent. The painting has consistently perplexed those who have analyzed it, as there are many possible interpretations that can be made. Take the aspects of the figures in the painting, mainly the expressionless faces and blank stares, for example. Wood stated that the ancestors of his family had developed a quality similar to the Iowa prairie that they inhabited. This information leads one to believe that the figures are meant to be of Wood’s family. Personally, I agree with Taylor’s theory that Wood subconsciously conveyed an image of his father, still alive, and his mother, still young. This theory, however, contradicts what Wood’s sister says was his intention with the piece. A strong case can be made for either interpretation, but due to the information provided about Wood’s relationship with his mother and his father unexpectedly dying when Wood was just 10 years old, I believe the piece to signify Wood’s parents reunited as a couple.

To conclude, Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic has consistently been misinterpreted, due to the assumptions of the people that view the painting, and the level of ambiguity of the female figure in the painting. Wood’s personal life also adds another layer of possible interpretations to the work. His childhood life and relationship with his family add a subconscious aspect to the piece. American Gothic is a fascinating work, and one that can be interpreted differently by each viewer, making it a masterpiece.

Works Cited
Taylor, Sue. "Grant Wood's Family Album." American Art 19.2 (2005): 48-67. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 27 Apr. 2012.

Michelangelo's Letters

In “The Role of Letters in Biographies of Michelangelo”, Deborah Parker examines the role that Michelangelo’s letters have played in the biographies of the artist. Her examination focuses on the Renaissance Period and also the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In Michelangelo’s case, there is an exceptionally rich archive of personal letters. It is seen in this article that personal letters have grave importance in the composition of biographies. As the principal source of information on Michelangelo’s life, these letters provide considerable information on his multi-faceted character, complicated business affairs, his family trials, his anxieties, etc. As biographers seek to unveil the man that is Michelangelo, it is evident that they all have a variety of interests. The object of the study is to uncover these investments in order to show particular concerns and different social and material conditions have affected the way in which biographers used the letters. This will also uncover information about the life of Michelangelo.

In many of the Renaissance biographies, the information presented about his life is not an accurate representation of the views of Michelangelo. Vasari was one writer who admired Michelangelo but did not provide the most accurate information using the letters of Michelangelo.

During the ninteenth and twentieth centuries, more letters became avaliable although the process of retrieving them was extremely slow and fitful. The writers of this time that constructed biographies of Michelangelo were Hartford, Grimm, Gotti, Symonds, and Papini. They all wrote in the wake of positivism.

Christ Blessing: A Deeper Meaning

The Triumphant Christ

Welcome to the Anthropocene (Exhumation > Resurrection)

The Falls at Tivoli with the Temple of the Sibyl

The Skin Game

“The Starry Night,” Musings of Mortality

                               

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/300px-Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)

            Death is highly debated among many religions today.  Some religions believe in reincarnation, while others believe in the ascension to heaven or the condemnation to hell.  While many fear death, Vincent van Gogh welcomed death to the point where he took his own life.  Approximately a year before his death, Van Gogh checked himself into a mental institution because he had attacked himself twice in approximately a year.  The first act of self-mutilation is famous because Van Gogh removed his own ear.  The second attack is much less well known but led to Van Gogh’s self-admission into a mental institution.  Van Gogh’s self-mutilations and time at the mental institution indicate his declining mental state.  At his time of death, Van Gogh desired to push past human limitations such as his ailing mental health.  In “The Shower and the Sheaf: Biblical Metaphor in the Art of Vincent van Gogh,” Judy Sund argues that the darkened edge of the town and the dark Cyprus tell onlookers that “The Starry Night” displays Van Gogh’s poor state of mental health and desire for a life in which he is a superior being.

            The darkened edge of the town “suggests the limits of earthly life” (Sund).  At this point in his life, Van Gogh was contemplating his own demise and had cut off his own ear.  Van Gogh’s discontent with his bodily constraints is obviously seen in the removal of his ear.  The contrast between the brightness in the night sky and the darkness of the town make Van Gogh’s discontent apparent in his art.  The night sky remains bright as if there is hope and health beyond this world while the town below remains dark to symbolize issues with life on earth such as the declining mental and physical abilities that come with age.  This sharp contrast creates a painful feeling inside the viewer.  The depiction of the night sky and the town also contain very exaggerated brush strokes.  These exaggerated brush strokes stress the pain that exists on earth.  These overstressed brush strokes also serve to stretch the grandeur that may be experienced after death.  These exaggerations make the onlooker want to push past the dark town just as Van Gogh wanted to push past the limitations of life towards the more limitless unknown.

            The dark Cyprus is a Mediterranean memento mori.  Memento mori is Latin for remember your mortality.  The large size of the Cyprus in comparison to the rest of the painting allows the viewer to become overwhelmingly aware of his or her physical limitations.  The gigantic Cyprus forces the viewer to feel very small in a world that is very broad.  As the Cyprus pushes towards the night sky, it is clear that Van Gogh was aware of his own physical struggles and that soon they would push him towards the heavens just as the Cyprus pushes towards the great beyond.  This is validated in Van Gogh’s life since soon after checking himself into a mental hospital, Van Gogh claimed his own life.  This shows that his poor mental health eventually drove him to take his own life in the hopes of living under improved existence on the “other side.”

            Judy Sund acutely points out Vincent van Gogh’s deep emotional turmoil through observations of Van Gogh’s famous painting, “The Starry Night.”  Van Gogh’s use of exaggerated brush strokes, contrast between the dark town and the lighter night sky, and utilization of the Cyprus as a memento mori convey his longing for death to the viewers.  Van Gogh desired to become a superior being and live a better life in the after-life while he painted one of his most famous paintings that displays his deteriorating mental health.

Citations:

Sund, Judy. "The Sower And The Sheaf: Biblical Metaphor In The Art Of Vincent Van Gogh." Art Bulletin 70.(1988): 660-676. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 8 Apr. 2012.

           

            

Unraveling Frida Kahlo

The Art of Romare Bearden

Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

Grant Wood: Stone City and Regionalism

Vincent van Gogh, "Self-Portrait Without a Beard"

Art is Alive!

Frida Kahlo’s artwork was only considered great or noteworthy after she had died; it was not recognized until after her life was dramatized in films. Only then were others able to realize that Kahlo was no ordinary artist, she was a genuinely creative person that portrayed her life experiences through her work. “A life lived artistically and intensely becomes the outward manifestation of the creative spirit that lies within...” argues Tina Lent, author of “Life as Art/Art as Life.” Lent believes that, when heightened, the emotional nature of the female artist drives the creativity they use to make masterpieces.

In order to be recognized and respected as a successful artist, Kahlo had to be removed from the conventional stereotype of a female artist and placed into the monograph of talented male artists. A monograph is something that conceptualizes an artist based off of similarities in facades that exist between other talented artists. The monograph of male artists is that they are born with talent and predestines their own greatness – making them seem almost godlike. In contrast, the monograph of a female artist is that she must be exceptional and her talent is only achieved by diligence, not genius as their male counterparts, and a male mentor has initiated their talents or success. Only after Kahlo’s life had been dramatized by Julie Taymor’s film, Frida, did people understand the complexity of her artwork and the stories hidden within them.

Between 2000 and 2002, there was a spark of renewed interest in Kahlo’s work and her life was dramatized in seven works. By using the films as examples, the public is able to see the life of Frida Kahlo and what inspired many of her grotesque, and somewhat disturbing pieces of art. Kahlo escaped the generalizations and preconceptions of female artists, and emerged as one of the most unique, profound artist of her time, regardless of the biases that exist within the art world.

According to Lent, the film Frida “went further than the other media by portraying the fictional Frida’s life as a work of art itself and then showing how her art is a direct transcription of that life.” The movie was not the usual, lackluster biography providing us with events that occurred in her life, but instead provides an emotional insight of Kahlo’s life. The movie removes Kahlo from the traditional monographs of female artists and highlights what defines as a great artist. Kahlo was a bisexual, disabled woman of mixed race – making her an ideal contemporary choice for the film. She represents monographs of both male and female. She is hypersexual, self-taught, suffering, and exceptional, as a male artist would be. She is strongly influenced by the males in her life, so as most female artists. I think that this is what sets Kahlo apart from other female artists of her time. She was not just your typical artist, she was unique and captivating - there was no way that Kahlo’s work could go unnoticed, nor her physical being.

The film was also to capture and focus on the emotional suffering that Kahlo experienced. Marriage, Divorce, Abortion, Accidents, Remarriage, and Disease are all emotional factors of Kahlo’s life that are portrayed in her pieces of work. The focus of the film was mainly of her life, with her husband Rivera. The pain and suffering that she endured while with him, was transferred into creative – art was created out of the worst circumstances. Proof of these events can be found in many of Kahlo’s pieces of work. For example, the painting A Few Small Nips represents the pain and rage that she felt after she learned of the affair her husband had with her younger sister. These pieces of art that Kahlo created were not things that randomly came into her mind, these were real life experiences that she endured.

I think that Kahlo treated her canvas as others treat journals; art was her very own diary that she shared to the world. She used her canvas as an outlet to release her emotions and thoughts; it was a way for her to escape her tragic life. I never thought of art as a representation of life and vice versa until I read this article. It is clear to see that Tina Lent is indeed correct when she said that an interesting life becomes a “manifestation of the creative spirit.”

Source: Lent, Tina. "Life as Art/Art as Life." JPF&T - Journal of Popular Film and Television. 2007. Vol. 35 Issue 2. p 68-76.

Romare Bearden

There was a time when people were racially segregated and treated differently because their skin color was tinted a different shade. Society has become a lot more accepting to date but in the past, artists struggled with their artistic expression and identity. The famous, African-American artist, Romare Bearden used his artistic methods to express the tragedies African-Americans had to endure but he had to do so without causing controversy within the real world. In “The Art of Romare Bearden” by Ralph Ellison, he describes the difficulty that the true artist had with being an African-American and fitting into that culture as well as having their art be socially accepted from White America.

Throughout the entire article, Ralph Ellison interjects his opinion on our society. Ellison feels like the American society is imbalanced and turns a blind eye to diverse cultures. He explains that a true artist ignores the social imbalance while creating a piece of art and “dominates all the world” through their artwork (Ellison 674). A true artist is also able to reveal unseen issues. Ellison describes Romare Bearden as being the definition of a true artist.

Since Bearden evolved in a time where African-American artists were not too popular, he was forced to break through the mold and create a name for himself and his people. This is where everything became tricky. Many people in society were not accepting when it came to African-American artists and Ellison argues that these artists had a difficult time fitting in to a White America because segregation was unfortunately prevalent. Ellison describes a myth where people use to believe that African-Americans were alienated from society. There were two sides to this myth. On one side you had mainstream America where people believed that America did not include anything that had to do with African-American culture. On the other side were the African-Americans that had it engrained in their minds that society was racist and therefore they did not even try to become artists because they felt like they would be segregated against. This myth deemed true in Bearden’s mind for a long time which is why he did not evolve as an artist in the beginning.

Even though Bearden was a true artist he truly had difficulty trying to fit in to a different culture. Bearden had a negative outlook on the world because of the predicaments he had been through and his experience shaped his reality and artwork. Bearden was stuck in the mindset that he did not have much of a chance to blossom as an artist because he was a minority unlike someone like Picasso who had no problem evolving into a popular artist. Some will argue this was not the case because talent is talent and you do not automatically know a person’s race by looking at a painting. However, since Bearden constantly felt this way, Ellison described that Bearden wanted to define the African-American identity through paintings and collages and reclaim justice for his people. There was always a constant battle between sticking up for his race through art and leaving his mark on the world through art. It was hard as a minority artist to balance race, culture and individuality through art.

A popular piece of art that voiced the issues within the African-American society was a painting Bearden did to describe the Depression in Harlem. In this piece he illustrated the people and the surrounding conditions. Before this, it was nearly unheard of to translate the African-American experience to art. Bearden unearthed what society was trying to conceal through his paintings by illustrating scenes that everyone already knew about. Bearden took on the responsibility and gave a voice to the people that were not able to speak for themselves by recreating traumatic incidences in history.

Although Bearden was faced with much opposition, he conquered his struggles and evolved as a successful artist and became socially accepted within White America. It was difficult for Bearden to balance trying to be an individual and fit into both cultures. Many artists faced this difficulty and unfortunately not many were able to succeed and leave the mindset that all society was racist. Many scholars will disagree with people like Ellison’s and Bearden’s mindsets on society and minority artists. Personally, being a minority and also living in a socially accepting time allows me to see both sides of the spectrum. I understand that the time period Bearden lived in was very difficult and minorities struggled to make a difference and voice their opinions. However, if Bearden was alive now and creating pieces he would automatically be accepted based on pure talent. The evidence that Ellison posed in this article was very convincing. He explained that times were hard, meaning racially segregated, when Bearden was evolving as an artist. The fact that Bearden still made a voice for his people and left an individual mark on society through his artwork deemed him as a very talented artist.

Works Cited

Ellison, Ralph. "The Art of Romare Bearden." Jstor.org. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25088793?seq=1>.

Dysfunctional Attitudes Towards Weight & Shape

“Increased levels of body dissatisfaction and a disturbed body image are serious problems associated with obesity (Adami et al., 1998; Friedman & Brownell, 1995).” Today, society pressures many girls to look exactly how other girls are portrayed by magazines, music, videos and television. This leads many girls to believe that the way their body shape and face looks is not good enough which is a disturbed body image symptom. When these girls develop a disturbed body image, this also leads to other issues surrounding their nutrition, such as eating disorders, which is used as a coping mechanism. The study conducted by Leignbuer, and others, will explore the effects that BED, binge eating disorder, has on the body image, size perception and behavioral aspects of fifteen obese girls versus fifteen females who do not have an eating disorder. The researchers of this study predicted that for the participants with the presence of a BED will have higher body dissatisfaction, a greater distortion in the perception of their own body, and stronger body-related avoidance behaviors. From this prediction, you can see that there is a preconceived idea about obese girls who suffer from a BED, differing from girls who are obese with no BED. Girls who suffer from obesity are most often aware of their condition, although they make no efforts to change their body image. Girls who suffer from obesity, in addition to BED, often feel guilty about their body image and will go to any length in order to improve their body to how they think it should look. When someone suffers from BED, or binge eating disorder, they often eat an unusual large amount of food and feel out of control during the binges. They do not throw up their food or exercise a lot as people do who suffer from bulimia or anorexia. They often “eat until they are uncomfortably full, eat when they are not hungry, when they aren’t hungry, eat alone because of embarrassment, and fell disgusted, depressed or guilty after overeating.” From this information, perhaps it can be concluded that the females who suffer from BED only became obese after their continued eating habits. Had it not been for their BED, they would have never felt the way they did about their bodies. Their disorder clearly suggests that they have an issue with the way they look and the only way they know how to cope with the pain is to eat their problems away. Females who suffer from BED need to learn how to cope with their own body image issues and find a healthy outlet in order to improve their self-esteem. Just because an individual is obese, or severely overweight, does not mean that they should have low self-esteem or that they will have issues with their body image. Even though many females are pressured by the media to look a certain way and be a certain size, this does not mean that all females fall victim to the media. Many females are able to be comfortable within their own skin, regardless of their size. Being obese does not mean that you aren’t less significant than anyone else nor does it mean that you should feel guilty about the way you look. When someone suffers from obesity, they can be comfortable with their own body image – even if they do want to change how they look. The underlying difference between obesity and obesity and BED is that with obesity, the girls are not desperate and willing to do anything to change how they look. They understand that they must be healthier and exercise and the change will be gradual, it is a change they are willing to make – rather than feeling like they are forced by society to change. They do not badger themselves for the way they look; instead they accept it and do what is necessary to change. To test their hypothesis, the researchers performed a series of tests on the participants including a questionnaire, in which they rated their own body satisfaction, drive to be thinner, and body dissatisfaction; and a photo distortion test, in which they were shown an adjusted photo of themselves to see how they felt about their own body image. The questionnaire asked the participants questions regarding restraint, eating concern, shape concern and weight concern, which were rated on a 7-point scale. The photo distortion method used a photo of participants in leggings and a tight fitting shirt that was distorted to 80% width and 120% width. The goal was to get to the correct, original width of 100%. If the participants formatted the picture <100% then they were identified as having a slimmer distortion and >100% was identified larger body distortion. Both methods proved that participants who had a BED had a lower self-esteem (from the questionnaire) and had a distorted body image (photo distortion method). The researchers’ prediction was proved to be correct. 

Source: Legenbauer, Vocks, Betz, Benecke, Troje, Ruddel, Puigcerver. "Aspects of Body Image

Eating Disorder: An Exploratory Study Including Static and Dynamic Female Obese Individuals With Versus Without a Comorbid Binge Differences in the Nature of Body Image Disturbances Between". Behavior Modification. 35. 162. 2011 

http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/35/2/162.full.pdf+html 

Hydrate, Your Body Will Thank You Later

HIV Linked to Depression

HIV is a serious viral infection that claims the lives of many people today. When observing and thinking about this disease, most people know what causes it: unprotected sex or using used needles. However, there are certain things that could make this disease worse. It has been found that depression is something that can make the effects of HIV worse. The connection between depression and HIV progression involves the interaction of various biological, behavioral, and environmental variables. Untreated depression leads to behavioral and psychological risk factors resulting in faster disease progression which is measured by immunological markers.

Major depressions results in overactivation of the HPA axis. This results in excessive secretion and inhibited regulation of glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids are anti-inflammatory compounds that are involved in carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism, and many other bodily activites.The elevated levels of these hormones compromises some of the mechanisms of the immune response system against antigens. Some of these compromises include induced cell death and removal of T cells from the circulation as the lymphocyte production in the thymus is interrupted. Studies have also shown that glucocorticoids enhance HIV replication. Depression also leads to blunted production and activity of coxycotic lymphocytes (NK cells) and an elevation of inflammatory cytokines which disturbs immune response. Elevated cortisol is also likely to play a primary role in the link between depression and HIV progression. What leads to elevated cortisol levels?

There is also found to be an association between HIV, depression, and substance abuse. The HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study, which is a large national study of HIV infected individuals receiving medical care, documented elevated rates for substance abuse . Among the HIV-positive individuals suffering from substance abuse, depression was well documented. The studies showed that HIV positive individuals who suffered from substance abuse were more likely to report elevated levels of depression than HIV positive individuals who were substance users. One of the problems associated with HIV- positive individulas sufferieng from substance abuse is elevated cortisol levels caused by drugs/alcohol. This is linked with immunosupression.

http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/36/2/123.full.pdf+html

Posture- Results

Sleep More, Feel Less Tired: Experimentally Proven

An Experiment in Hydration--Results

Healthy Eating: What's The Big Deal?

Being Healthy Pays Off!

Posture

Hydrate, Your Body Will Thank You Later

Behavior Modification: Time Slept Each Night

BOOST YOURSELF!!!

Losing Weight The Right Way