American Art and Architecture

Name

Institution

Introduction

The American art came into being as a result of very many factors and cultures that are all over the world. Through the years, numerous artists have continually given different and comparative perspectives and kinds of art in their own and personal touches. A very famous and common type of art is the oil painting that the Americans happen to be very impressive in their design and drawing. Some of the most significant works that people are most familiar with include “The Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks and “American Gothic” by Grant Wood. These contemporary works come from very different periods in time and it makes it easy to visualize how American Art has constantly evolved and maintained similarity despite the disparities in time. This paper focuses on comparative analysis of two works of diverse artists so as to establish a clear and concise distinction between the works and also establish ways in which they are similar.

Edward Hicks was born in the mansion belonging to his grandfather at Attleboro in Bucks County in Pennsylvania. Both his parents were Anglican. His father, Isaac Hicks was a partisan who left penniless after the Revolutionary War that left British defeated. After the death of his mother when he was at a tender age of eighteen months, Matron Elizabeth Twining took him into her care and raised him as her own son at her farm formally referred to as the Twining Farm. The woman also taught her Quaker traditions. Apparently, Hicks had two residents as he also associated with the David Leedom Farm. At thirteen years of age, he began apprenticeship so as to coach makers Henry and William Tomlinson. He stayed with the two for close to seven years and during this time he came to learn the craft of coach paintings. In 1800, he left them so as to make milestones into earning his living independently as a house and coach painter. Later, he moved o Milford to indulge in enterprise business for Joshua C. Canby who was also a coach maker. Historians estimate the painting “The Peaceable Kingdom” came into being at around 1820. This was one of his many paintings to come and they were mostly designed for close friends and family relatives and he did not think that they were valuable in terms of financial power and his main source of income at the time was decorative painting.

Quaker beliefs barred lavish lives or in simple words it was not right to own excessive quantities of materials. Unable to cope with his work as a painter and a Quaker preacher at the same time, he decided to transition his life of painting and in this regard, he started using canvasses to express his beliefs. He did not go along with the rules that dictated his congregation and this made it easier for him to freely articulate what religion was afraid of doing and this was the human conception regarding faith. Although it is not a religious image, Edward’s “The Peaceable Kingdom” exemplified many and deep Quaker ideals. He also painted sixty-one versions of the same composition. The children and animals are all derived from Isaiah 11:6-8 including a scene where a lion eats straw in the company of an ox. He employed these paintings as descriptions of his central interest and it was an obvious quest for a transferable soul. The painting focuses on the religious genre although it is not completely so in regard to the people and how they view the work. Edward uses a lot of images that are found in religious books such as the bible to represent his views on the subject of his Quaker preaching in the past.

The “American Gothic” came into being in 1930 during the time of the great depression that rocked the world over especially in the