Second Grade Art Lesson 18

"American Gothic" by Grant Wood, Part 1

Objective:

The students will become familiar with the famous painting American Gothic by Grant Wood. The students will begin a drawing of the painting to reinforce careful observation and familiarity.

Materials:

a copy of American Gothic by Grant Wood (see the scroll down on the video or refer to the arttango website if you do not have this image) white 12 x 18 paper and a pencil

Procedure:

Begin the class by introducing the work American Gothic by artist Grant Wood. Ask if the children have seen this work before and encourage them to recall when and where if they have seen it. Explain that this is a famous work by an American painter who lived in Iowa during the turn of the twentieth century. He was known as a regionalist meaning that he used subjects and people from the region he worked. In this particular painting guide the children to describe what they see; a man, a woman, a house, trees and of course, a pitchfork. Ask them to describe the attitude the couple seem to have. Do they look as though they are defending their home? Would you want to ask them over for dinner? Do you think they may ask you over? Do you think they have any children? Why or why not? Continue asking the class as many questions as you can think of and try to get them to justify their answers. Tell them the actual people Grant Wood used for the people in the portrait are his sister for the woman, and his dentist for the man. Next, have the children notice how much of the painting the two people take versus how much room there is for background. Ask them to identify exactly what they see in the background and what, if anything, it might tell us about the people. Finally, explain that in order for them to really know what the painting looks like, we are going to draw it the way we see it, with one extra little detail that we are going to put ourselves in between the two people instead of drawing the pitchfork. Distribute the white paper and have them begin using simple outlines with a pencil. The want to basically get the composition worked out and include themselves in the middle. In our next lesson, we will color in our drawing.

Conclusion:

Ask the class to tell you the name of the painting and who the artist was. Encourage them to continue looking at and studying the painting throughout the week if you can arrange to have a copy to display in the classroom. Store their work in a safe place until next lesson.

Artwork and Examples used in this lesson

American Gothic 1930

by Grant Wood

Teachers Example