Class, settle down please. Ladies, ladies, please. We really must get down to work now.We have a lot to do today.
Dancing Nymph, where are you going? No, I meant we have a lot to do in here, in class. Sit down again please, that is a lamb.
Lisa, put that down, not there for crying out loud… yes, in the bin, that is far better for all of us.
Season, skirt length is not a “moveable feast” as you seem to suggest with that scrap of material. You should change your skirt at break time for a … well for an actual skirt, one that reaches past your bottom please.
Kristina, CJ, it is good that you are friends, girls, but perhaps that could wait until another time.
Linde, I know it hurts but really it was your own fault, just sit still, it will soon fade and when you learn not to speak to Monsieur Dumont like that it need never happen again.
Larken, we talked about that before, didn’t we and we decided that it was not a class-appropriate activity? Now wipe your hands so that we may continue. No, not on Lisa. Oh, never mind. Lisa, stop crying, it was only a little of it, you should think yourself lucky, considering.
Anyway ladies we are here for our art history lesson and today’s topic is a painting by Grant Wood from 1830 and that painting is…. the painting is …..
No Kristina, not that kind of wood, really that was most uncalled for.
The painting is, as I am sure you all know once you have stopped giggling, American Gothic.
Now Mr Wood saw a cottage with the distinctive window and decided to paint the kind of people he felt would have lived in that cottage.
Sorry, Lisa, what was that? Well, what kind of people do you think would have lived there?
Lisa, really, I am shocked. Those are not the kind of people at all that Mr Wood was talking about or that he thought about or anything.
No, he asked his dentist and his own sister to pose for the picture. Now, don’t you feel ashamed of yourself, Lisa?
There was some discussion about the relationship between the two. Wood’s sister was embarrassed to be portrayed as being married to someone twice her age and she suggested that she was not his wife but his daughter. Wood supported this assertion.
How might this relationship have been portrayed more clearly in the painting do you think, Season?
Well, no, my word, not at all. No not at all, Season. A girl would never show her father such treatment. Is that how you think a young lady should behave? I am shocked, shocked I tell you.
There was some consternation upon its reception from the Iowa town where it was painted. The people objected to how they were shown. They thought that it was unfair to show them as dull and austere. One farm wife even threatened to bite Wood’s ear off.
What was that, Dancing Nymph? You think you could help show them in a new light? That is most kind of you. How would you do that?
Well, yes. I suppose I can see what you mean. You mean to show them involved in more active pursuits, some form of friendly and relaxed sporting activity. I like your idea but I am not sure that ping-pong would fit in with the theme of the painting.
No, Kristina thank you but I do not need your help. I understand perfectly well what Dancing Nymph was trying to suggest. She likes her sport, Kristina, that is all.
You see girls, some people saw this painting as a satirical portrait but others, particularly as the Depression set in, saw it as a portrayal of that American pioneer spirit.
How do see that pioneer spirit, Kristina? What do you think is meant when people evoke the term, pioneer spirit? That is it. It is lovely to see you think so hard, let your imagination go and just let rip with what comes to mind.
Kristina! I do not think that is what is meant by pioneer spirit at all. In fact I am appalled , I am disgusted that yo…
You are sorry? Really? You want to try again? Well, good for you. Go on then.
That is it, Kristina. Go and stand outside until the end of the lesson.
Anyway, what was I saying? Gosh, I am so flustered.
CJ, you can help? That is kind of you. Remind us where we got to please.
You found this where? The A.S.S collection?
You girls are just so obsessed with … with .., with …
What are you obsessed by?
Say that again please, Linde.
It is a cheese paddle? Really. You are telling me that these people were people of the land, people who provide for America, hard workers, living off the sweat of their brows.
Yes, that is lovely.
Class dismissed. Trot along now, quick as you can before the headmaster comes to check on how you are all doing. I don’t think any of us are quite ready for that kind of discovery just yet.
