Why I love American Gothic.As a kid I had probably seen images of the painting and maybe a few parodies but didn't think about it much. Then I read an article in Life magazine declaring it the 'Most Parodied' piece of art. They included some parody examples, a nice history of the painting, a photo of the building in Eldon Iowa that inspired it, and even photos of the original models.
I created a web page with pictures from my collection way back in the 80's. I got some nice responses, including some correspondance with the postmaster of Eldon Iowa who told me that, as a way of preservng the house, they had turned the house into the Eldon, Iowa post office and official residence of the postmaster. He was hand-cancelling postcards of the house for tourists as a way to raise revenue for the town. Well one thing led to another and my web page went away for a while, but not my facination. I still have my collection and now that I have some time I've decided to re-do the web page and share my hobby with others. Please visit the blog page where I'll talk less about me and more about why the painting is important and why it get's so much attention from advertising people, magazine publishers and political cartoonists. Feel free to comment, point out works I've missed, or send me photos of your collection. Thanks for visiting. -George |
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