Compare and Contrast essay of the following artworks: American Gothic (1930) by Grant Wood, and Number 1/Lavender Mist (1950) by Jackson Pollock.

In the paper I am going to compare two works of art, observing the historical and cultural context of their creation, the characteristics of their style, the subjects and the messages they convey. The works of art are Number 1 (Lavender Mist), 1950, gesture painting/Abstract Expressionism by Jackson Pollock’s, and American Gothic, 1930, Regionalism/American Scene by Grant Wood.

The time when Wood created his “American Gothic” was the time of Great Depression to come. After the World War I the United States consequently became the most powerful capitalistic country in the world. However, the economic boom of the postwar years had brought only impermanent prosperity to the nation. The boom was moved by non-natural and insecure forces. As a result, the stock-market Crash of 1929 came, signaling the coming of Great Depression – an enduring, harsh experience all the Americans went through. Naturally, economic crisis resulted in employment and production being greatly decreased. Wages were down by 40%, while the farm income was reduced to half. Construction practically ceased, and fifteen million people turned out to be unemployed. Politics in the country was generally dominated by economy.

No need to say, by the 1930s money was limited because of the depression. In order to make their lives joyful and entertaining, and to enjoy the living without much spending, people did what they could. Movies became hotter, parlor games and board games were admired.  People were getting together around radios to listen to the Yankees playing. The arts, like everything else in the 30’s, were dominated by the Great Depression. Those times evidenced the appearance of new art style such as Regionalist. Wood’s “American Gothic” is one of the most famous artworks of that time and that movement. Wood was actually “one of the leading figures in the Regionalist movement, an anti-modern, anti-European campaign for a purely and folklorically American art. Regionalist painters rejected the big cosmopolitan cities and depicted, in quite homely ways, rural America” (Jones).

As well as they did in 1930s, in 1950s Americans were experiencing postwar period. The end of World War II brought thousands of young servicemen back to America to regain their lives, and to start anew with as much energy as possible. New families were started, new jobs and homes found. American industry enlarged to face and satisfy peacetime needs with vigor and force never before experienced. Americans started to purchase goods not accessible during the war, which resulted in corporate expansion and increasing number of available jobs. Growth was everywhere, with great number of new opportunities and baby boom at the door. United States of 1950’s evidenced the grow of consumerism.

Naturally, the end of World War II had a great impact on economic, social and cultural life of the country. The fresh artistic viewpoint came to be and the artistic world reflected this viewpoint. Abstract Expressionism, being started off in the United States in the 1940s, experienced it growth through the 1950s. It was the first exclusively American art movement that put New York City at the center of the western art world, bringing international influence and attracting worldwide attention. Artists working in many diverse styles were highlighting impulsive and unstructured personal expression in large paintings that were purely abstract. One of the prominent expressionists of those times was an “action painter” Jackson Pollock. He was the one to claim that the creation of the work of art is of equal value with the final result meaning actual painting.