Mexican American Gothic

George Rodriguez, Mexican American Gothic, 2019, stoneware with glaze and underglaze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alison and Glen Milliman, Cynthia Sears, and Michael J. Stein, 2022.23A-B, © 2019, George Rodriguez. Photograph by Spike Mafford, courtesy of Foster/White Gallery, Seattle.
George Rodriguez, Mexican American Gothic, 2019, stoneware with glaze and underglaze, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alison and Glen Milliman, Cynthia Sears, and Michael J. Stein, 2022.23A-B, © 2019, George Rodriguez. Photograph by Spike Mafford, courtesy of Foster/White Gallery, Seattle.

Artwork Details

Title
Mexican American Gothic
Date
2019
Dimensions
dimensions variable
Copyright
© 2019, George Rodriguez. Photograph by Spike Mafford, courtesy of Foster/White Gallery, Seattle.
Credit Line
Gift of Alison and Glen Milliman, Cynthia Sears, and Michael J. Stein
Mediums
Mediums Description
stoneware with glaze and underglaze
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Object — tool — broom
  • Latinx
Object Number
2022.23A-B

Artwork Description

Mexican American Gothic reimagines Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic (1930), which features a pair of unsmiling farmers standing in front of their Gothic-style house in Iowa. In this ceramic variation, the man is a field worker and the woman is a domestic worker. Like their 1930 predecessors, their poses are stoic and their gazes are inscrutable—stirring curiosity about their stories.

Artist George Rodriguez was born and raised in the border city of El Paso, Texas. With bold colors and abundant ornamentation, he celebrates the contributions of Mexican American workers to everyday life. The artist also rewards close looking. The flowers are his gift to you.   

“From a distance the ornamentation is texture and pattern, upon closer inspection, the individual flowers reveal themselves. Flowers have a life cycle that is in some ways analogous to the process of looking at, seeing, and getting to know a work of art more intimately over time—the work can blossom and expand with more attention and curiosity.” —George Rodriguez

Works by this artist (16 items)

Charles Seliger, Awakening, 1988, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George M. Jaffin, 1994.50, © 1988, Charles Seliger
Awakening
Date1988
etching on paper
Not on view
Charles Seliger, Suction, the Epicurean, from Illustrations to the songs of William Blake's "Island in the Moon", 1945, white ink on black ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael Rosenfeld, 1992.53.13
Suction, the Epicurean, from Illustrations to the songs of…
Date1945
white ink on black ink on paper
Not on view
Charles Seliger, Title page, Illustrations to the songs from William Blake's "Island in the Moon", 1945, white ink on black ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael Rosenfeld, 1992.53.1
Title page, Illustrations to the songs from William Blake’s…
Date1945
white ink on black ink on paper
Not on view
Charles Seliger, Celestial, 1956, mixed media: pencil, tempera, oil and wax on illustration board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hy Klebanow, 1992.58
Celestial
Date1956
mixed media: pencil, tempera, oil and wax on illustration board
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Welmon Sharlhorne, Untitled (Building with Recessed Entrance and Black Foreground), ca. 1992, ink on manila envelope, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.135
Untitled (Building with Recessed Entrance and Black…
Dateca. 1992
ink on manila envelope
Not on view
Andrea Way, Bones, 1987, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tom and Judy Brody, 2009.38.3, © 1987, Andrea Way
Bones
Date1987
ink on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Bearded Man, ca. 1935, pen and ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.378
Bearded Man
Dateca. 1935
pen and ink on paper
Not on view
Welmon Sharlhorne, Bus, ca. 1992, ink on manila envelope, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.134
Bus
Dateca. 1992
ink on manila envelope
Not on view