Kamis, 26 September 2013

What's the significance of that painting? The one of a farmer with pitch fork and his wife looking at him?

Q. What's it called and what's its significance?
I have the feeling its iconic in some way. If yes than what?

A. American Gothic
by Grant Wood, 1930
Oil on beaverboard
74.3 × 62.4 cm, 29¼ × 24½ in
Art Institute of Chicago

From
http://www.bookrags.com/research/american-gothic-sjpc-01/
This painting of a stern-visaged, tight-lipped, nineteenth-century country couple posed in front of their pristine farmhouse has become not only one of the most reproduced images in American popular culture, it has also virtually become emblematic of the moral fiber and simple virtues for which America is said to stand. Painted by Grant Wood in 1930, American Gothic has been interpreted both as homage to the artist's Midwestern roots and as slyly witty commentary on American "family values." After winning an important prize in 1930, American Gothic quickly became, as Robert Hughes notes, "Along with the Mona Lisa and Whistler's Mother … one of the three paintings that every American knows…. One index of its fame is the number of variations run on it by cartoonists, illustrators, and advertisers…. The couple in front of the house have become preppies, yuppies, hippies, Weathermen, pot growers, Ku Klux Klaners, jocks, operagoers, the Johnsons, the Reagans, the Carters, the Fords, the Nixons, the Clintons, and George Wallace with an elderly black lady." In the visual culture of the millennium, American Gothic remains the most potent and pervasive symbol of America's heartland mythology, as witnessed by its perpetual permeation into all areas of popular culture.

From
http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/American_Gothic
In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in Carpenter Gothic architecture in Eldon, Iowa. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house." He recruited his sister Nan to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Wood entered the painting in a competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The judges deemed it a "comic valentine," but a museum patron convinced them to award the painting the third medal and $300 cash prize. The patron also convinced the Art Institute to buy the painting, where it remains today. The image soon began to be reproduced in newspapers, first by the Chicago Evening Post and then in New York, Boston, Kansas City, and Indianapolis. However, Wood received a backlash when the image finally appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Iowans were furious at their depiction as "pinched, grim-faced, puritanical Bible-thumpers". One farmwife threatened to bite Wood's ear off. Wood protested that he had not painted a caricature of Iowans but a depiction of Americans.

Art critics who had favorable opinions about the painting, such as Gertrude Stein and Christopher Morley, also assumed the painting was meant to be a satire of rural small-town life. It was thus seen as part of the trend towards increasingly critical depictions of rural America, along the lines of Sherwood Anderson's 1919 Winesburg, Ohio, Sinclair Lewis' 1920 Main Street, and Carl Van Vechten's The Tattooed Countess in literature. However, with the onset of the Great Depression, the painting came to be seen as a depiction of steadfast American pioneer spirit.


What are some good young adult novels?
Q. I don't like overly cheesy romance stories. I enjoyed the Twilight series. I like novels that feature a witty main character, something funny but not cheesy-hilarious.

A. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight is a GREAT love story between a regular girl and a really great/good vamire. The other books in the series are, New Moon and Eclipse.

I also LOVED Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. The sequel comes out in April. It's about 4 friends. 3 of them decide to skip college and follow their dreams.
For readers of the New York Times bestselling Gossip Girl and A-List series, here is a smart and highly commercial first novel about four best friends who, after graduating high school, decide to postpone the standard college route to pursue their creative dreams. Harper Waddle, Sophie Bushell, and Kate Foster are about to commit the ultimate suburban sin--bailing on college to each pursue their dreams: write the next Great American Novel, make it as a Hollywood actress, and backpack around the world. Middlebury-bound Becca Winsberg is convinced her friends have gone insane...until they remind her she just might have a dream of her own. So what if their lives are bass ackwards and belly up? They'll always have each other. Harper is going to be the next Jane Austen. Or Sylvia Plath. Or Plum Sykes. Figuring out which should be easy. It?s living with the lie she told her three best friends that?s going to be hard.Kate doesn?t know exactly what she wants. But whatever it is, she won?t find it at Harvard. Maybe the answer is in Paris, or Athens? or anywhere Kate can be someone besides the girl with perfect grades, perfect hair, and the perfect boyfriend.Sophie is a star. She?s already got the looks, the talent, and a list of demands for her dressing room. Now that she?s wrangled a furnished guesthouse in Beverly Hills, it?s only a matter of time before she?s discovered. Unless she isn?t.Becca is dysfunctional. At least, her family is. Which is why she can?t wait to flee the drama and get to college. But Becca?s friends know she needs more than a spot on the Middlebury ski team and a cozy dorm room. They know she needs to fall in love.Dreams are complicated. They almost never turn out like you imagine?they almost always change. Sometimes, they change you.

You should also check out The Insiders series by J. Minter. It's sort of about the rich boys and girls in New York. Kind of like a Gossip Girl thing.

You should also read the Gallagher Girls series. It's about a girl who goes to a school for spies.
The first one is "I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You" by Ally Carter The Sequel is Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy.
Summary for first one:
Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school???that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class.& nbsp; The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it??'s really a school for spies. & nbsp; & nbsp; Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she??'s an ordinary girl.& nbsp; & nbsp; Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real ???pavement artist??????but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?& nbsp; Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she??'s on her most dangerous mission???falling in love.

The Queen Geek Social Club series by Laura Preble
It's chic to be geek! If you're somebody like Shelby Chappelle, a smart, witty, pretty geek army of one, you can't just put a poster up at school and advertise for somebody to be your best friend. But now freakishly tall Becca Gallagher has moved to town, with her dragon tattoo and wild ideas. Suddenly Shelby's madscientist father and their robot, Euphoria, seem normal. They become best friends instantly. But Becca wants to shake things up at school and look for "others of our kind.,."and decides to form the Queen Geek Social Club. The thing is, this guy Fletcher Berkowitz keeps nosing around, asking lots of questions about the Club. He's cute, and interesting, and possibly likes Shelby. Therefore, she must torture him. One good thing about being a loner: no one can break your heart.

The A-List series by Zoey Dean
KEYNOTE For the readers of Gossip Girl, here is a scandalous and juicy new series about the lives of rich and famous teens in Beverly Hills. DESCRIPTION Following in the footsteps of Gossip Girl, The Princess Diaries, and Sex in the City, The A-List is a hot new series of stand-alone original paperback novels that takes readers behind the scenes of the intoxicating world of Hollywood glitterati. Seventeen year-old Upper East Side blueblood Anna ("pronounced Aaanah") Percy is on her way to Beverly Hills, CA, where she'll live with her estranged dad for the rest of the school year while her mother travels to Europe with a friend. On the plane, Anna drinks too much champagne and gets hit on by record producer Rick Resnick. Luckily Princeton student Ben Birnbaum is there to save her-and Anne and Ben come this close to joining the mile-high club. Ben invites Anna to famous actor Billy Sharpe's wedding where Anna meets the cast of rich and famous characters who are soon to be her classmates at Beverly Hills High School. And little does Anna know her date to the wedding is the recent ex-boyfriend of one of the three rulers of Beverly Hills High, super-agent Richard Shepard's beautiful and manipulative daughter, Cammie.

Au Pairs series by Melissa De La Cruz
SUMMER AU PAIRS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY For four energetic children, between 3 and 10 years old. Join a NYC family for the best summer of your life in East Hampton, July 4-Labor Day. Pay: $10,000.00 Driver's license a must. Familiarity with the Hamptons, a plus. Send resumes and head shots to HamptonsAuPairs@yahoo.com Meet Mara Waters, Eliza Thompson, and Jacqui Velasco -- new au pairs for one of New York City's wealthiest families -- who will spend their summer in one of the most posh, most exclusive spots for summer summering: the Hamptons. For good girl Mara, this job is a way out of another go-slow Massachusetts summer. Eliza, New York City's former It Girl, knows this is the fast lane back to the stylish world she wishes she'd never left. And for Brazilian bombshell Jacqui, it's a boarding pass back to her American love who told her he'd e-mail as soon as he got home, and didn't. After all, how hard can an au pair job be? Slap sunscreen on the kids during the day and party at the coolest hot spots at night, right?Wrong. While Eliza is desperately trying to hide her baby-sitting job from her superspoiled friends who think she's still just as rich as she used to be, Mara's getting awfully cozy with the kids' extremely attractive older brother, Ryan. And Jacqui is heartbroken when she discovers that the love of her life may have been nothing more than a spring fling. If the girls can manage au pair duties -- all the while mastering the ins and outs of the Hamptons' social scene -- it might just turn out to be the most incredible summer of their lives. But to do it they'll have to stick together. And that's where things definitely get sticky.

The Nannies series by Melody Mayer
Good girls.Life in La Crosse couldn't be any blah-er. Kiley's way out? A pricey school in California that she can only afford if she's a resident of the Golden State. That's why she's on "Platinum Nanny," vying for the chance to work for a wacko rock star-or be sent home nationally humiliated.Wild girls.Lydia has spent eight years stuck in the Amazon with her do-gooding parents. When her aunt offers her a lifeline-babysitting in posh Bel Air-Lydia hops the next plane to civilization. Pucci sandals, poolside cabanas, clubbing in Hollywood It spots-was there even a question she'd accept? Now she just has to find a cute pool boy to make up for all that lost time. . . .Wilder boys.Moving into the guesthouse of one of Beverly Hills' most powerful families isn't exactly what Esme had in mind for a summer job. Neither was losing her head over Jonathan, her new boss's almost famous (and already hot) son. Safe to say her boyfriend isn't going to like this.Grab your sunglasses and welcome to "The Nannies," a crazy world of Hollyweird backstabbing and skyscraping palm trees, spoiled tots and private swim lessons. But how hard can a nanny job be? After all, eight to four is kid time. After that? It's our time.

I also pretty much like any Sarah Dessen book

You should check out the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

Into the Wild series by Sarah Beth Durst
Twelve-year-old Julie has grown up hearing about the dangerous world of fairy tales, The Wild, from which her mother, Rapunzel, esca





Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Tidak ada komentar:

Posting Komentar