"I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed."

[Will Scarlet]

Since I know how much Snuffy/Oberon/A. Radek loves Norman Rockwell, I thought I'd repost this here:

I believe that few if any artists have succeeded in capturing the American spirit as well as Norman Rockwell. Beginning his life in New York City in 1894 and ending it in rural Vermont in 1978, Rockwell saw America undergo enormous change. Especially significant was the huge influx of non-Anglo immigrants who had started pouring into America shortly before his birth (perhaps why his family soon left NYC for another part of NY). Rockwell's work, which graced everything from magazine covers to post cards to propaganda posters, almost seems as if it was designed as a primer for these newcomers, aiming to depict to them the way of life of the American ethne.

His work has sometimes been derided by art critics :rolleyes: as "bourgeois" and overly idealistic, but it is clearly powerful and able to strike a deep chord as it evokes America's oldest and most deeply held values.

Anyway, without further ado, I'd like to share some of my favorite Rockwell pieces with you.

First, his "Four Freedoms":

Freedom to Worship
http://img104.echo.cx/img104/7933/freedomtoworship3kc.th.jpg (http://img104.echo.cx/my.php?image=freedomtoworship3kc.jpg)

Freedom of Speech
http://img104.echo.cx/img104/9504/freedomofspeech8vs.th.jpg (http://img104.echo.cx/my.php?image=freedomofspeech8vs.jpg)

Freedom from Want
http://img104.echo.cx/img104/5186/freedomfromwant9kq.th.jpg (http://img104.echo.cx/my.php?image=freedomfromwant9kq.jpg)

Freedom from Fear
http://img104.echo.cx/img104/5774/freedomfromfear7mk.th.jpg (http://img104.echo.cx/my.php?image=freedomfromfear7mk.jpg)

[Will Scarlet]

Breaking Home Ties
http://img104.echo.cx/img104/7289/breakinghometies8pq.th.jpg (http://img104.echo.cx/my.php?image=breakinghometies8pq.jpg)

Football Hero
http://img53.echo.cx/img53/8444/footballhero0gr.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=footballhero0gr.jpg)

Girl with Black Eye
http://img53.echo.cx/img53/7307/girlwithblackeye9bk.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=girlwithblackeye9bk.jpg)

After the Prom
http://img53.echo.cx/img53/544/aftertheprom1bz.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=aftertheprom1bz.jpg)

[Will Scarlet]

Delight
http://img53.echo.cx/img53/5963/delight7zl.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=delight7zl.jpg)

The Homecoming Marine
http://img53.echo.cx/img53/7804/homecomingmarine9jg.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=homecomingmarine9jg.jpg)

The Fighting Gillises
http://img53.echo.cx/img53/411/thefightinggillises9vu.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=thefightinggillises9vu.jpg)

Looking Out to Sea
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/9809/thestayathomes9yh.th.jpg (http://img169.echo.cx/my.php?image=thestayathomes9yh.jpg)

The Gossips
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/7139/thegossips0ku.th.jpg (http://img169.echo.cx/my.php?image=thegossips0ku.jpg)

But Wait Til Next Week
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/8703/butwaittilnextweek7gg.th.jpg (http://img169.echo.cx/my.php?image=butwaittilnextweek7gg.jpg)

Day in the Life of a Little Girl
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/8973/dayinthelifeofalittlegirl7zl.th.jpg (http://img169.echo.cx/my.php?image=dayinthelifeofalittlegirl7zl.jpg)

A Family Tree
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/2208/afamilytree0cx.th.jpg (http://img169.echo.cx/my.php?image=afamilytree0cx.jpg)

[Will Scarlet]

A Scout is Helpful
http://img142.echo.cx/img142/8595/ascoutishelpfula615uf.th.jpg (http://img142.echo.cx/my.php?image=ascoutishelpfula615uf.jpg)

Christmas Homecoming
http://img142.echo.cx/img142/3396/christmashomecoming4xn.th.jpg (http://img142.echo.cx/my.php?image=christmashomecoming4xn.jpg)

Game Called on Account of Rain
http://img142.echo.cx/img142/2973/gamecalled9tb.th.jpg (http://img142.echo.cx/my.php?image=gamecalled9tb.jpg)

Thanksgiving
http://img101.echo.cx/img101/4866/makeimage1php6xj.th.jpg (http://img101.echo.cx/my.php?image=makeimage1php6xj.jpg)

Market Day Specials
http://img101.echo.cx/img101/7838/makeimagephp4ms.th.jpg (http://img101.echo.cx/my.php?image=makeimagephp4ms.jpg)

Kansas City Spirit
http://img101.echo.cx/img101/2352/kansasspirit5om.jpg

County Agricultural Agent
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee521/pictures/cagent_full.jpg

Abstract and Concrete
http://www.petersonland.com/mccartneysketches/images/rockwell.jpg

[Will Scarlet]

Some more of his illustrations for the Boy Scouts of America:

A Great Moment
http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters2/images/r1965.jpg

A Scout is Loyal
http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters2/images/r1932.jpg

America Builds for Tomorrow
http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters2/images/r1938.jpg

Forward America
http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters2/images/r1951.jpg

To Keep Myself Physically Strong
http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters2/images/r1964.jpg

We, Too, Have a Job to Do
http://home.earthlink.net/~scouters2/images/r1944.jpg

[Will Scarlet]

Before and After
http://img169.echo.cx/img169/9928/beforeandafter6uo.th.jpg (http://img169.echo.cx/my.php?image=beforeandafter6uo.jpg)

[il ragno]

Good for you, G.R.

Rockwell's rendering is magnificent, a clear heir to the salon traditions of 19th century European art (which was also derided by the said-book critics of that era as 'shallow', 'mawkish' and 'bourgeois', and for the same reason: because the inherent craftmanship, and the idealism of its themes, summon the better angels of those viewing them).

[Faustian Dreams]

I visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in the Berkshires of Massachusetts with my family last summer; it lies on his property where his studio still stands (he enjoyed collecting war memorabilia, and he had antique weaponry lying about).

Norman Rockwell embodied the nationalist spirit, and his ideals for America are ideals that I can identify with, even if they are not near to my heart in their particular conceptualization (I don't consider myself American). It is a bit quixotic to hope that perhaps the American way of life will become something quaint and rustic, that the small-town charm is rekindled in the hearts of the children of those who forsook that lifestyle for one that was more cosmopolitan/urban. I really don't see how that lifestyle lacks in appeal to anyone, but I guess the flashing lights and perpetual noise is endearing to some?

[Kodos]

Woah its in Taxxachussetts here... gotta make a visit sometime.

[1-800]

Those who enjoy Norman Rockwell may be interested in this:

http://www.artrenewal.org/

[Excorcism]

Rockwell is one of my all-time favorite artists.

[Will Scarlet]

Good for you, G.R.

Rockwell's rendering is magnificent, a clear heir to the salon traditions of 19th century European art (which was also derided by the said-book critics of that era as 'shallow', 'mawkish' and 'bourgeois', and for the same reason: because the inherent craftmanship, and the idealism of its themes, summon the better angels of those viewing them).


I think this one says it all:
http://www.petersonland.com/mccartneysketches/images/rockwell.jpg

[ironweed]

I believe that few if any artists have succeeded in capturing the American spirit as well as Norman Rockwell. Beginning his life in New York City in 1894 and ending it in rural Vermont in 1978, Rockwell saw America undergo enormous change.

I don't think this is correct. Rockwell did live in Vermont for a while, but spent the last few decades of his life in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I'm pretty sure he died there. (Strangely, Stockbridge is also the setting for the anti-Vietnam War song Alice's Restaurant.)

And as I understand it, Rockwell was also quite liberal in some ways. As in:

http://www.nrm.org/eyeopener/eye_problem.html

And some others I've seen.

[Will Scarlet]

I don't think this is correct. Rockwell did live in Vermont for a while, but spent the last few decades of his life in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I'm pretty sure he died there. (Strangely, Stockbridge is also the setting for the anti-Vietnam War song Alice's Restaurant.)

Perhaps you're right.

And as I understand it, Rockwell was also quite liberal in some ways. As in:

http://www.nrm.org/eyeopener/eye_problem.html

And some others I've seen.

Yeah, some of the illustrations he did for Look in the late sixties dealt with the theme of integration. Ther was that one, The Problem We All Live With, one about the murders of the jewish 'civil rights' activists in Mississippi, and one that I've seen depicting a Black family moving into a White neighborhood.

It's easy to take a fairly liberal view of such situations if one lives in rural Vermont or lilly-white Massachusetts, I suppose.

[Crowley]

Back when most Americans were white and lived on farms it was a better place, but so far as Rockwell's idealizing of doughboys, well :rolleyes:

[Will Scarlet]

Someone making paintings of American life today who didn't include depictions of soldiers returning from Iraq would be just remiss as one who failed to include depictions of soldiers returning from Europe when making paintings of American life during the early 20th century.

Soldiers then, as now, were mostly just normal kids thrust out of their element and placed into situations beyond their control. What you see as 'idealizing' others may see as realism. Rockwell wasn't painting pictures of soldiers storming German gun emplacements or liberating French towns. He painted soldiers peeling potatoes with their mothers or telling stories to their buddies down at the garage. In other words, real life...

[il ragno]

Back when most Americans were white and lived on farms it was a better place, but so far as Rockwell's idealizing of doughboys, well

Well, now, consider that Rockwell was only depicting them heading off to war, when I assume there were a lot of corn-fed Tom Sawyers in uniform. And his audience wasn't soldiers but their families. (Illustrators who specialized in depicting the maimed and scarred veterans returning from war weren't exactly sought out by the Sat Evening Post, but they were out there, too.) I'm not sure Rockwell (or most anybody else) at that time had a crystal ball that foretold how disastrously the next 100 years of playing world cop would boomerang on the homefront, let alone their now-quaint but then-accepted notions of small-town charm and civility.

[Excorcism]

great american spirit !
i like this one too
http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=afamilytree0cx.jpg

Definitly my favorite as well. I've always loved Norman Rockwell's artwork. It truly captured American culture.

[Fade the Butcher]

I think this one says it all:
http://www.petersonland.com/mccartneysketches/images/rockwell.jpg

This one is great.

[Crowley]

Well, now, consider that Rockwell was only depicting them heading off to war, when I assume there were a lot of corn-fed Tom Sawyers in uniform. And his audience wasn't soldiers but their families. (Illustrators who specialized in depicting the maimed and scarred veterans returning from war weren't exactly sought out by the Sat Evening Post, but they were out there, too.) I'm not sure Rockwell (or most anybody else) at that time had a crystal ball that foretold how disastrously the next 100 years of playing world cop would boomerang on the homefront, let alone their now-quaint but then-accepted notions of small-town charm and civility.

Except it wasn't necessary to have a crystal ball peering in to the next 100 years to fanthom the utter disaster of World War I, especially considering our late entry into the meat grinder of Western civilization. Hey, I like Rockwell, I was born in Omaha in the fifties afterall. I'm just registering a complaint.