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Showing posts with the label economic painting

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 Minne

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 dangerou