American Gothic as a Depiction of the Great Depression by Grant Wood

American Gothic (1930)

The painting an American Gothic was produced by Grant Wood in 1930. It was completed in Iowa as a backlash against Europeans trying to depict Americans from their own vantage point. The concept of self-representation was called Regionalism. It was part of a movement of paintings by Americans to characterize "true" American life.

The picture is of a farmer and his daughter. Grant Woods used his sister and a dentist to model the image. One can see the age on the father's face and his willingness to work hard and save the farm. Perhaps he was saving it for his daughter. As the Depression took hold you can see the determination with just a touch of a classy sports jacket thrown over his bibs. It is an interesting clash of age and youth, wealth and poverty, ruggedness with soft flowers in the back, and commitment with a get-to-work attitude. 

Grant Woods moved to Cedar Rapids after his father passed away in 1901. He went to an art school in Minnesota and then came back to Cedar Rapids to teach in a one room school house. Around 1913 he attended the School of Art Institute in Chicago. Through his travels in Europe he exposed himself to other forms of art. He focused much of his effort on the Midwest and the lives of its inhabitants.

The Depression was a worldwide event that started in 1930 and ended in the early 40's. It is seen as the world's longest lasting economic downturn. International trade declined by 50% and unemployment rose to around 30%. The causes of the Depression range from explanations of market contraction to governmental inefficiencies. However, the initial decline of the stock market was seen by some economists as a symptom of bank and government policy failures.

In a study of the Great Depression by economist James K. Galbraith's work The Great Crash:1929 he writes:

The main relevance of The Great Crash, 1929 to the great crisis of 2008 is surely here. In both cases, the government knew what it should do. Both times, it declined to do it. In the summer of 1929 a few stern words from on high, a rise in the discount rate, a tough investigation into the pyramid schemes of the day, and the house of cards on Wall Street would have tumbled before its fall destroyed the whole economy. In 2004, the FBI warned publicly of “an epidemic of mortgage fraud.” But the government did nothing, and less than nothing, delivering instead low interest rates, deregulation and clear signals that laws would not be enforced.

Galbraith, J. (1961) , The Great Crash 1929, Pelican Books

Economic Art as Represented in The Merchant Georg Gisze

The Merchant Georg Gisze 1532

The painting entitled The Merchant Georg Gisze, or Der Kaufmann Georg Gisz, depicts a wealthy Steelyard merchant on the North bank of the Thames in London. The Steelyard merchants banned together in order to avoid the power of the princes, pirates, losses in shipping, and other factors that often impact the success of economic gain during this time period. When the artist Hans Holbein finished the work for Georg Gisze in 1532 he was unlikely to be aware that his work would be part of the pantheon of masterpieces.

The Merchants of the Steelyard (der Strahlhof) were first known as the Hanseatic League at their establishment in London Knotor of the year 1320. Eventually they developed their own walled community with a church, warehouse, guards, offices and houses. The league was a defensive pack of guilds, connected to other economic outposts, that protected their trade on the Baltic and North Sea.

At this time in history the world was a very dangerous place as cities could be sacked by enemy ships and armies. What made the Hanseatic League interesting was its Germanic roots as well as its independent loose collection of near democratic associations of over one hundred cities. These cities were independent of local princes and swore allegiance only to the Holy Roman Empire. In this league each city maintained an armed garrison that would come to the aid of other cities when called upon.

The artist Hans Holbein the younger was born in 1497 and passed in 1543. He was considered one of the first artists to work in the Northern Renaissance style. He combined Gothic and humanism styles to create unique masterpieces. He contributed to art, book design and jewelry development. Much of his work was conducted on portraits of important people and he received considerable notoriety for his work. This painting at the steelyard was finished during a time when Hans traveled to England in search of work.

The painting itself is a curiosity in that it was finished for Georg Gisze's potential upcoming marriage. Within the picture there are scales, letters, books and other items commonly used within the period for merchants. It is believed that a few optical and scale issues are apparent within the objects of the work. The vase being too close to the edge of the table represents the instability of the world. The letter in his hand is from a family member further indicating the difficulties of family separation despite the wealth of such a merchant. One can only guess if the mistakes were derived intentionally, from the perspective of the merchant, or the painter.