American Gothic

American  

noun

1. a painting (1930) by Grant Wood.

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American Gothic Cultural  

1. A painting by the twentieth-century American artist Grant Wood. It shows a gaunt farmer and a woman standing in front of a farmhouse; the man holds a pitchfork, and both wear severe expressions.

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American Gothic has been the subject of many parodies on magazine covers and in advertising.

Example Sentences

It’s a happy accident that, at 71, Gibson looks like a more benign version of the pitchfork-toting male figure in Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic.

From The Guardian • Jan. 11, 2020

The painting American Gothic by Grant Wood, depicting a stern-looking farming couple is seared into our collective consciousness as what it means to be an American, and what traditional American values are.

From Scientific American • Nov. 21, 2018

That’s the takeaway at least from “Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables” at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2018

Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander, who directed an episode of American Gothic that Caso shot, posted video of the cinematographer’s speech on Twitter:

From Slate • Feb. 18, 2018

Imagine a Muslim version of the American Gothic couple, with a beard on the husband and a black hijab on the wife.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali