American Gothic

Grant Wood always insisted the two figures were intended as a father and his unmarried daughter, not a husband and wife. The man is Wood's dentist, Dr. B. H. McKeeby of Cedar Rapids. The woman is Wood's sister, Nan. The pitchfork has three tines, unusual; standard American hayforks were two- or four-tined. Wood chose three because the prongs visually echo three other patterns: the seams of the overalls, the lines of the wood gables, and the stripes of the apron. Now at Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago @artinstitutechi