Dawn Jacob

COM 327

Gray & Gold Draft

February 7, 2020

It’s Almost as If America Never Left 1942

If you’re looking for “Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,” then

John Rogers Cox’s Gray and Gold is not the place to look. America is at a crossroads quite

literally and figuratively with this work of art, as Cox depicts the looming future of democracy as

America has just joined the Second World War, which dramatically resonates today.

Throughout Gray and Gold, Cox utilizes a great deal of texture. The fields of grain are

meticulously painted in the foreground, leaving the viewer able to see each grain separate from

the other. He uses this technique for the grass in the painting, as well. The texture throughout the

waves of grain is executed by the tops of the grain being juxtaposed against a smooth texture to

give the feel of having individual strands of grain leading into the background. The fields of

grain have an evident shine to them, almost if the sun were shining on them. The contrast of the

field to the clouds almost leads one to believe that there is a harsh contrasting light being casted

from the sun on the other side to which the viewer cannot see—giving the painting a sense of

hope in a time of darkness. The use of oil paint on canvas suggests that this painting took Cox a

while to create, being that oil can be left for long periods of time before drying and allows the

artist to make changes that other types of paint do not allow. The artist uses a dirt road and

telephone poles to create perspective that draws the viewer to look back towards the storm, and it

can be seen that the telephone poles do not have wires on them. The absence of wires on the pole

plays even more into the symbolism of American patriotism of keeping enemies out. It should
also be mentioned the spelling of the color gray in the title. The color is commonly spelled

“grey” in British English, while the American way of spelling it is “gray”. The color grey is

symbolic of lifelessness or sadness, while the color gold is symbolic of triumph and victory. The

contrast of the two colors for the title are the perfect representation for the state of America at the

time.

Compared to America’s ballad of “America the Beautiful”, Gray and Gold is quite the

contrary. The beautiful amber waves of grain, each grain appearing to be painted individually

with meticulous detail and a soft luster, are overshadowed by ominous clouds above. While the

painting displays a crossroads as Americans are stricken with fear of what the war will bring and

what it will mean for the future of democracy, it seems perhaps that Cox is depicting an impasse.

The crossroad is a symbol of the choice that Americans feel they have at this time, to get on

board with the war or not, but the viewer is unable to see what the other roads lead to. While

there may be a choice to go any other way besides into the impending storm, it seems that Cox

believes this is the only way that Americans feel they can go. This is represented through the

political propaganda posters that hang on the telephone lines and the barbed wire fences that

symbolize keeping people out.

Additionally, after two years of staying out the European war, which began in 1939,

America has just joined World War II in December of 1941 after the Japanese bombing on Pearl

Harbor. It is no coincidence that the dark, puffy clouds threatening these amber waves of grain

almost appear as smoke to symbolize the occurrence of this event. The crossroad in this painting

also divides the scene into the beautiful, patriotic side of America represented by the fields of

grain—while the other side represents the ill-favored side of America. In the foreground of the

painting, barbed wire fencing can be seen, alluding to the Japanese internment camps ordered
under Roosevelt during this time. The goal of these camps was to keep the Japanese spies out,

but America was doing to the Japanese what Nazi-Germany was doing to the Jews during the

Holocaust –just on a much smaller scale—due to their disgust of the Japanese from the bombing

on Pearl Harbor.

In conclusion, America today dramatically resonates with this painting. While the threat

of an impending world war isn’t immediately looming over our heads, we still face many of

these problems—making it seem almost as if we never left 1942. America has been divided as a

country in the eyes of war many times since then. The most present-day U.S. war, and the

longest ever war to date, the war in Afghanistan, sent troops over in 2001 right after 9/11. The

ominous clouds in this painting resonate with the ominous sky above New York City and the

World Trade Center on 9/11 as its two towers were crashed into during a terrorist attack by Al-

Qaeda. Furthermore, we may not be putting Japanese-Americans in detention camps, the racism

in our country has now just been shifted towards Hispanics. President Trump has immigrants in

detention camps at the Mexican border and wants to build a wall to keep America great,

believing that keeping immigrants out is the way to do so. Take a deep look at America today

and that same feeling of ominous clouds, uncertainty, political propaganda being shoved down

people’s throat—it’s all still here today. Americans seems to be at war with each other with a

nation so divided by political party affiliations. This is America’s present-day crossroad, and the

more we try to “Make America Great Again” the more “divided we fall”.

Word count: 957

Sources

1. “America and WW2: When, How and Why Did the US Get Involved, and Why They
Didn't Enter Sooner?” HistoryExtra, 4 Sept. 2019, www.historyextra.com/period/second-
world-war/why-when-how-america-entered-ww2-pearl-harbor-roosevelt/.
2. History.com Editors. “Pearl Harbor.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct.
2009, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor.
3. Stanos, Valerie G. “Take a Walk Through ‘Wheat Field Landscape’ by John Rogers
Cox.” Jonathan Boos, 3 Oct. 2019, jonathanboos.com/wheat-field-landscape-john-
rogerscox/.
4. Anonymous. “Gray and Gold.” Cleveland Museum of Art,
www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.60.