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Course: Modernisms 1900-1980 > Unit 8
Lesson 9: Social Realism- Raphael Soyer, Dancing Lesson
- Strange Worlds, immigration in the early 20th century
- Hale Woodruff, The Banjo Player
- Grant Wood, American Gothic
- Alexandre Hogue, Crucified Land
- Revisiting the myth of George Washington and the cherry tree
- Vertis Hayes, The Lynchers
- Vertis Hayes, Juke Joint
- Cheap Thrills: Coney Island during the Great Depression
- Ben Shahn, Contemporary American Sculpture
- A mine disaster and those left behind: Ben Shahn's Miner's Wives
- Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti
- Romare Bearden, Factory Workers
- Hopper, Nighthawks
- Hopper, Nighthawks
- Horace Pippin's Mr. Prejudice
- Josiah McElheny on Horace Pippin
- Norman Rockwell, Rosie the Riveter
- Eldzier Cortor, Southern Landscape
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Revisiting the myth of George Washington and the cherry tree
The painting "Parson Weems' Fable" by Grant Wood depicts a famous American myth about George Washington. It shows the importance of truth-telling and forgiveness, and reflects the tension in America during the start of World War II. The painting also highlights the complex history of early America's reliance on enslaved labor.
Want to join the conversation?
- When did this myth of the young George Washington not being able to tell a lie originate? Do you think it was responsible for the many generations of Americans who believed that our Presidents would not lie to the American people? Might this be a good time to go back to telling about this to our school children and contrast it with the current occupant of the White House?(7 votes)
- I understand your point and even though the current occupant of the WH is preternaturally awful (3/18), I think that we have to keep in mind that administration of the government is a series of compromises. Even with someone with the moral integrity of Obama, miscalculations will be made. I think the story of the cherry tree may be a metaphor for Washington's integrity in general, and I agree that this is something we should be teaching our children.(6 votes)
- Was the painting commissioned, and if not, what was Wood's motivation for painting it (notwithstanding the symbolic/historical items mentioned)?(3 votes)
- Early Renaissance artworks of the infant Christ often portayed him possessing an adult face. Could Wood have been making a comparison between these historical figures, albeit ironically?(2 votes)
- All things are possible when paint is applied to a canvas by a human being or by an AI.(1 vote)
- The pulling back of the curtain reminds me of Charles Willson Peale’s “The Artist In His Museum.” Another little joke from Wood?(2 votes)
- Parson Weems in 1806 invented a lie about Washington, although he (Weems) had good intentions. Could Wood in 1939 be warning us about the use of lies for political purposes?
Btw, note that Grant Wood and George Washington have the same initials. Cooincidence?(1 vote)- I wonder if "invented a lie" might be a bit harsh. Certainly the cherry tree thing never happened. I've no problem there, but was it a lie, or merely a story or a parable (like the ones that Jesus told) or a fable (as Aesop wrote)?
As for the same initials, yes, it's just a coincidence.(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Steven] We're in the Amon Carter Museum Of American Art looking
at one of my favorite paintings by the American
artist, Grand Wood. This is Parson Weems' Fable,
most Americans looking at this painting in 1939
would have been familiar with Parson Weems, and with
the fable of Washington. But modern audiences, I
think are less familiar and that was one of the
motivations of the artist, he wanted to reassert
what he thought was an important piece of American mythology. - Mason Lock Weems in his fifth edition on his biography on George Washington, incorporated the famous folklore of George Washington. - [Steven] So the story
was that Washington as a boy, was on his fathers
farm and took a hatchet, and cut down one of his cherry trees. His father confronted
him and said 'Do you know who did this?' And
Washington's famous response, according to Weems, was,
'I cannot tell a lie, Pa.' - In the Weems' version
the father is so grateful that his son has confessed
that he applauds him for his truthfulness and
is not angry but forgiving. - [Steven] So there really are two moral aspects to this story.
One is the importance of truth telling especially for the first Presidents of the United
States for the general, who is credited with winning
the revolutionary war, but the other is the forgiveness of the paternal figure - And in Wood's version the father is actually not forgiving, he's stern, he grips the cherry
tree with so much force you see the blood in his hand. - [Steven] It's important
to understand that this was painted in 1939 this was the beginning of the Second World War and a conversation was taking place in the United States, as we were witnessing the rise of fascism across Europe but even
fascist tendencies here. This is the very end of
The Great Depression, this is in the mid-west
just a few years after the dust bowl had taken place and so you had a county that was seeking it's roots, it's moral foundation. - Wood felt that American
folklore was something that Americans could celebrate at this time of trauma. - [Steven] Everything in this painting is systematized, everything
is a kind of visual fable. The cherry tree is not a real cherry tree, it is a perfected cherry
tree, it's a stage prop in a certain way and in
fact the entire painting opens up to us as a kind of stage. We see Parson Weems in his green jacket, the largest figure in the painting, lifting back a curtain. - Wood with his love of theatricality, wanted viewers to
part-take in his paintings. And by drawing back the curtain, by Parson Weems pointing
directly to the fable, being portrayed like a play
that's being performed, it invites the viewer
in a very direct manner. And Wood had a deep history in theater, he started in the 1920's, he organized the community players in Cedar Rapids, Wood was responsible for
all the set construction and you see his knowledge
of set construction and also that falsehood
of set construction. Coming through in this painting, not only in the organization of the trees, looking like props, but also the lighting, a very focused spotlight hits on the story of Washington and his father. - [Steven] One of my favorite aspects of this painting is the young Washington, with the mature head that we know from the dollar bill that
comes from a portrait by Gilbert Stuart. - By using Gilbert Stuart's
famous portrait head of Washington, he said
'it provided a means for his audience' to immediately
recognize Washington. Which it did, but I think it also is a reflection of Wood's humor. - [Steven] This is a completely
theatrical invention, this is a construction
of American identity. It's a construction of American memory. - And it's Wood conflating
the ideas of theater with painting to help
viewers to participate. - [Steven] Now Wood was
one of a triumvirate of artists that were well
known as Regionalists. These were artist that
although versed in European traditions decided to focus their art, their subject matter on
the heartland of America. Wood left the East Coast,
he went back to Iowa, and he put down roots there but declaring his separation from
the European tradition. - Regionalism reached its
high in the early 30's, and at that moment the
idea was looking at the heartland in a way to
restore faith in America. - [Steven] Parson Weems,
Washington's father and of course the young Washington, are in the foreground but there are additional figures in this painting. At the left edge there
are two African Americans who can been seen harvesting cherries. And If we look in the extreme background, we can just make out the red and white of the clothing worn by
somebody else harvesting, and so we have a sense of the productivity of these trees but we're
also reminded of the fact that Washington's father
owned and slaved people. And that we have a
reference to the complex history of early America and it's reliance on enslaved labor. - I think he's also
portaying at this moment, in '39, with The Depression,
this idea of productivity. That just seems to reach to the skies, in this almost positive,
optimistic outlook. It's a fascinating
contradiction with the sky above which is so dark and ominous. - [Steven] In fact some
art historians have noted the storm clouds that are gathering as an illusion to the coming of war. Washington had, late in his
career cautioned against American entanglements
with European powers and that's an issue that
must have felt important in the 1930's when the First World War, was still a recent memory
and the United States was now again contemplating
involvement in Europe. And Washington was wildly popular when he left office, he could have seized permanent power but he chose to step down and he set a model for
the peaceful transition of power and such contrast
to the seizing of power by dictators in Europe at this time. - Wood at this moment in 1939, is looking at the facts of history, the facts of Washington
and his important role, but also the myth that
became associated with him of telling the truth,
so there's this mixture of fact and fiction, of myth and folklore that Wood has so
beautifully brought together at this time of deep conflict and tension between modernity, history and tradition.