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American Gothic : A Life of America's Most Famous Painting
by Steven Biel
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Fine
- ISBN 10
- 039305912X
- ISBN 13
- 9780393059120
- Seller
-
Arlington, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Hardcover. First Edition / full number line. Laid-in book reviews from the Washington Post and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Fine book in a Fine jacket. Interior pristine. Spine straight and tight, tail slightly bumped. Jacket clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. 215 pages. 8 pages of color plates.
Is there anyone who has not seen the sturdy Iowa farmer with his pitchfork and his thin-lipped wife or daughter? Ever since it met the public eye in 1930, the work titled American Gothic has elicited admiration, disgust, reverence, and ridicule and has been reproduced hundreds of thousands of times, in every medium. Painted by a self-proclaimed "bohemian" who studied in Paris, the image was first seen as a critique of Midwestern Puritanism and what H. L. Mencken called "the booboisie." During the Depression, it came to represent endurance in hard times through the quintessential American values of thrift, work, and faith. Later, in television, advertising, politics, and popular culture, American Gothic evolved into parody, all the while remaining a lodestar by which one might measure closeness to or distance from the American heartland. With broad perspective, acute insight, and humor, Steven Biel explores the strangely enduring life of America's most popular painting.
Is there anyone who has not seen the sturdy Iowa farmer with his pitchfork and his thin-lipped wife or daughter? Ever since it met the public eye in 1930, the work titled American Gothic has elicited admiration, disgust, reverence, and ridicule and has been reproduced hundreds of thousands of times, in every medium. Painted by a self-proclaimed "bohemian" who studied in Paris, the image was first seen as a critique of Midwestern Puritanism and what H. L. Mencken called "the booboisie." During the Depression, it came to represent endurance in hard times through the quintessential American values of thrift, work, and faith. Later, in television, advertising, politics, and popular culture, American Gothic evolved into parody, all the while remaining a lodestar by which one might measure closeness to or distance from the American heartland. With broad perspective, acute insight, and humor, Steven Biel explores the strangely enduring life of America's most popular painting.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Books of the World
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- RWARE0000003503
- Title
- American Gothic : A Life of America's Most Famous Painting
- Author
- Steven Biel
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 039305912X
- ISBN 13
- 9780393059120
- Publisher
- W.W. Norton & Co.
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2005
- Pages
- 215
- Size
- 8vo
- Keywords
- Grant Wood, American Gothic, art, art history, artists, American, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- Bookseller catalogs
- History; Iowa; Biographies; Art, Architecture, and Photography; Grant Wood;
Terms of Sale
Books of the World
30 day return guarantee, with full refund if an item arrives mis-described or damaged.
About the Seller
Books of the World
Biblio member since 2017
Arlington, Virginia
About Books of the World
Finding new homes for the library I collected over five decades of travel around the world.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Laid-in
- "Laid In" indicates that there is something which is included with, but not attached to the book, such as a sheet of paper. The...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Number Line
- A series of numbers appearing on the copyright page of a book, where the lowest number generally indicates the printing of that...
- Remainder Mark
- Usually an ink marking of some sort which indicates that the book was designated a remainder. In most cases, it can be found on...
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