MovieChat Forums > American Gothic (2016) Discussion > Episodes named after American paintings

Episodes named after American paintings

posted 8 years ago by calamarisoup
30 replies | jump to latest

I noticed the episode titles are also the titles of well-known American paintings.

Episode 1: Arrangement in Grey and Black: This is the title Whistler gave to his painting of his mother.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistler%27s_Mother

Episode 2: Jack-in-the-Pulpit: Georgia O'Keefe painted a series of 6 canvases depicting the flower Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Here are links to the second and fourth:
http://broadstrokes.org/2012/02/16/georgia-okeeffes-jack-in-pulpit-no-2-on-view-now-at-nmwa/
http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/20centpa/20centpa-70179.html

Episode 3: Nighthawks: Nighthawks is the title of the famous Edward Hopper painting of a late-night diner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks

Episode 4: Christina's World: well-known painting by Andrew Wyeth of his neighbor crawling across a field.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina%27s_World

Episode 5: The Artist in His Museum: a self-portrait by Charles Willson Peale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist_in_His_Museum

Episode 6: The Chess Players: a painting by Thomas Eakins of his father watching a chess game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chess_Players_(Eakins_painting)

Episode 7: The Gross Clinic: a painting by Thomas Eakins that depicts surgeon Dr. Samuel Gross operating on a patients thigh.
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/299524.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gross_Clinic

Episode 8:Kindred Spirits: a painting by Asher B. Durand of a gorge in the Catskill Mountains with his friend painter Thomas Cole and Cole's friend, the poet William Cullen Bryant standing on a promontory above it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/arts/design/30dura.html?_r=0
http://crystalbridges.org/blog/asher-b-durands-kindred-spirits/
The title of the painting is from the Keats poem "O Solitude!"
http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/works/works-john-keats/john-keats-o-solitude

Episode 9: The Oxbow: also called View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm In the lower center between two rocks the artist is shown sketching in a top hat.
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10497
For a detail of the part with Cole's self portrait try this site and scroll down about 2/3 of the page.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-americas/us-art-19c/romanticism-us/a/cole-the-oxbow

Episode 10: The Veteran in a New Field a painting by Winslow Homer of a Union Civil War soldier harvesting wheat, his uniform jacket and canteen are lying on the ground.
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11145
https://edsitement.neh.gov/winslow-homer-veteran-new-field

Episode 11: Freedom From Fear: a painting by Norman Rockwell of two children resting in their bed with their parents standing over them. The father holds a newspaper with headlines about the Blitz in WWII. This was the last painting in a series of four("The Four Freedoms")
http://www.nrm.org/2016/08/four-freedoms-grades-6-12/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_from_Fear_(painting)
http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/01/01/art-entertainment/norman-rockwell-art-entertainment/rockwells-four-freedoms.html

Episode 12: Madame X a portrait by John Singer Sargent of a socialite in Paris. This painting scandalized the Paris Salon of 1884 so he repainted the shoulder strap from falling off her shoulder to its present position.
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12127
with the strap down:
http://www.jssgallery.org/paintings/Madame_X_Studies/Photo_of_Madame_X.htm

Episode 13: Whistler's Mother I guess we are back to the beginning with Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1.
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/index.php?id=851&L=1&tx_commentaire_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=445&no_cache=1

Note: Episodes 12 and 13 are being shown together in a two-hour block on Sept. 7 at 9pm(Eastern time).

I guess it makes sense since the series title is also the title of a painting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic

[–] Ithilfaen 8 years ago

Wow, how long did it take you to figure that out, Einstein?

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

[–] KellyKeybored 8 years ago

bump for tonight's episode. "The Veteran in a New Field," Winslow Homer

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11145

Thanks calimarisoup for listing the rest of the episodes 

[–] calamarisoup 8 years ago

You're welcome.
It's interesting the last episode is going back to Whistler's Mother. I wonder if that means that Madeline is the accomplice. On the other hand Sophie and Alison are also mothers. Tessa and Christina are becoming mothers. So it could be anyone.

[–] KellyKeybored 8 years ago

I thought they cheated a little in last night's homage to a painting. Garrett was holding a shovel and was digging a hole, not exactly cutting down wheat in a field with a scythe. But oh well, close enough, ha.

[–] KellyKeybored 8 years ago

Tonight at 9 PM (EST) the last two episodes are being shown

"Madame X" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Madame_X

Followed by "Whistler's Mother" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistler%27s_Mother

And since this season (or series) is coming to a close, I wonder if they might also use American Gothic...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic

[–] Pandjy 8 years ago

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cuecuite 7 years ago

I just finished to watch the show and thanks to your post I knew which images were there. I went ahead and looked for all the image placing on the episodes and I am posting them here too. Some of them are subtle, some of them are very obvious.

0. First episode. "American gothic" at 03.33 minutes, there is a subtle reference to that painting. The couple sitting in front of an arrangement of horns. The lines in the back and the flowers mimic the lines in the painting, the reference is there although very subtle. There is art everywhere, in every episode, even the crime scene images look like art, I really liked that.
1. 40.25 End scene, final image. "Arrangement in Grey and Black"
2. 28.41 "Jack in the pulpit". The number II of the series is the most obvious one, the rest are just subtle references in shape and color. All of them are: II at 28.41 (flower close up), III at 7.25 (terrarium), IV at 1.17 (sponsor shirt), V at 32.05 (stained glass panels) VI at 27.49 (shape of sculpture "virgin" at table)
3. 00.48 "Nighthawks" and the diner reads: "Filly Diner" outside.
4. 27.12 "Christina's world"
5. 21.04 "The artist in his museum"
6. 28.49 "The chess players"
7. 21.02 "The gross clinic"
8. 22.45 "Kindred spirits" (my personal favorite, very nicely done)
9. 07.08 "The Oxbow"
10. 40.10 "The Veteran in a new field"
11. 06.26 Freedom from fear (less perfect of them all IMO)
12. 42.45 Madame X (nice reference but also not so obvious)
13. Repeats "Arrangement in Grey and Black" at 1.12.53 (its a double episode, so its in the second hour of it, almost at the end of the episode and again not so obvious)
:)
English is not my first languaje so I am sorry if I have some spelling or grammar mistakes.