{"product_id":"the-couple-with-the-pitchfork-wanda-m-corn-9780691286341","title":"The Couple with the Pitchfork: American Gothic from Easel to Icon","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA rich, evolving history of one of the most recognized couples in the world\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this abundantly illustrated book, award-winning art historian Wanda Corn tracks the fortunes and vicissitudes of Grant Wood's \u003ci\u003eAmerican Gothic\u003c\/i\u003e, his realist painting of a rural man and woman posed stiffly before a modest white house with a gothic-styled window, made in 1930. She explores Wood's scrappy formation as a disadvantaged midwestern artist and his unexpected, overnight fame when \u003ci\u003eAmerican Gothic\u003c\/i\u003e premiered at the Art Institute of Chicago and was purchased for the museum's collection. After a close look at the painting's volatile reputation over its first thirty years, Corn turns to that historic moment in the 1960s when the couple with their pitchfork left the museum and journeyed into the streets. Shedding their preciousness as art, they became a versatile, free-floating image open to reuse and reinterpretation. That moment also found Corn beginning her long career in art history, and she interweaves her story with that of the couple's evolving appearances in pop art, cartoons, advertisements, and grassroots reenactments. She offers compelling explanations for the painting's entry into the pantheon of cult visual images. Today, Wood's couple stands alongside other art icons: Whistler's mother, Rodin's thinker, Hokusai's wave, Munch's screamer, and the enigmatic beauty in Leonardo's \u003ci\u003eMona Lisa\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA highly readable and personalized study of a painter and the work he would forever be tied to, \u003ci\u003eThe Couple with the Pitchfork: American Gothic from Easel to Icon\u003c\/i\u003e sheds critical light on the cultural forces that transformed an image with humble roots into a global icon whose reach and charisma extends far beyond the world of art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Wanda M. Corn\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691286345\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691286341\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/27\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/27\/2026","brand":"Wanda M. Corn","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48997319344383,"sku":"9780691286341","price":49.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-couple-with-the-pitchfork-wanda-m-corn-9780691286341","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}