"Freedom from Fear," 1943.
Saturday Evening Post story illustration, oil on canvas. From
the collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Norman
Rockwell:
By Stephen May
STOCKBRIDGE, MASS. - Returning home after a triumphant tour that
confirmed its enduring popularity, the art of Norman Rockwell
looks very much at home in the museum erected in his honor.
Spread throughout the spacious galleries of The Norman Rockwell
Museum are more than 70 of the artist's original oil paintings
and all 322 of his Saturday Evening Post covers.
They were seen by over 750,000 people during stops at prestigious
museums in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, San Diego, and Phoenix.
After its run in Stockbridge concludes on October 21, "Norman
Rockwell: " will be at New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
November 16 to March 3, 2002.
During its tour, what Rockwell Museum director Laurie Norton
Moffatt appropriately terms "this big, glorious show" charmed
both older viewers who grew up with Rockwell's magazine covers
and "a new generation...[that] discovered the power of Rockwell's
original paintings."
Art and cultural critics, taking a new look at often-familiar
images, found both fresh appeal and accomplished artwork in
Rockwell's oeuvre. The nationwide swing thus enhanced
appreciation for the artist as a significant, serious painter and
a figure of considerable aesthetic achievement, who made a
lasting contribution to our artistic history.
"No Swimming," 1921. Saturday Evening Post cover, oil on
canvas. From the collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.
The show is co-curated by Anne Knutson, guest curator at the High
Museum of Art; Maureen Hart Hennessey, associate director for
curatorial and professional affairs at the Rockwell Museum; and
Judy L. Larson, former curator of American art at the High Museum
and now executive director of The Art Museum of Western Virginia.
The accompanying catalogue offers essays by the curators and
others and numerous reproductions.
In many ways, Rockwell occupies a unique place in the history of
illustration, which has always played a special role in the
American cultural scene. Before television, magazines and
newspapers were the principal sources of news and visual images
for Americans. Our artist-illustrators thereby exerted
considerable influence over the way we perceived ourselves and
our country.
In part because generations of Americans recognized themselves in
his pictures - albeit likely portrayed with greater vividness and
wit than they could have described themselves - Rockwell became
one of this nation's most beloved artists. In a career that
spanned much of the Twentieth Century, he chronicled both
everyday moments and extraordinary events from World War I to the
first moon landing, compiling a visual record of his era.
Appearing frequently on covers of the mass circulation
Saturday Evening Post, his pictures helped forge a sense
of American identity and common values in turbulent times.
Rockwell became, in many senses, our national icon-maker and
storyteller. His enormous success and enduring hold on the
American psyche has inevitably fueled discussion as to whether he
was a fine painter or simply an able illustrator. The current
exhibition suggests he was both.
A simple, down-to-earth, pipe-smoking man who drew inspiration
and models from the New Englanders among whom he lived, Rockwell
was a skilled technician and exceptional communicator. Unlike
many of the avant-garde artists who achieved prominence during
the course of his career, his art needed no interpretation to be
understood by the general public.
Rockwell's adherence to traditional American values, conveyed in
a realistic style, were out of step with modern art trends. While
this contributed to his great public popularity, he was routinely
dismissed by the art establishment as a sentimental recorder of
an America that never was.
His wide appeal, confirmed over and over again by this
exhibition, is unquestioned. "At a time when most people stared
in bemusement at Jackson Pollock's dribbled paint and [Pablo]
Picasso's fractured shapes, Rockwell was an artist they
understood because he so clearly understood them," says Moffatt.
In this context the current revival of interest in Rockwell's art
and the accompanying discussions about fine versus popular art,
high versus low art, and easel painters versus illustrators have
taken on lively and instructive dimensions.
Born in New York City, Rockwell (1894-1978) grew up admiring the
illustrative work of Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth. Leaving school
at 15, he studied at the National Academy of Design and Art
Students League. Before he turned 20 he had created Christmas
cards on commission, become art director of Boys' Life,
the official publication of the Boy Scouts, and launched a
promising career as a freelance illustrator.
Soon after he moved with his family to suburban New Rochelle at
age 21, the prestigious Saturday Evening Post published
his first cover. Over the next half century he produced 321 more
covers to the Post, all on view today in Stockbridge. In
the 1960s, he switched to Look magazine, a publication
that offered him greater leeway in terms of subject matter.
Beginning his career at a time when much of the art in American
museums tended to be academic and oriented to Europe, Rockwell
executed works that were familiar and readily accessible to the
man in the street. His special gift was in depicting ordinary
things that Americans liked about themselves - childhood
escapades, neighborly kindnesses, family relationships, festive
occasions. "I showed the America I knew and observed to others
who might not have noticed," he said.
Married with three sons, Rockwell moved in 1939 to a white
clapboard house by a covered bridge in tiny Arlington, Vt., where
his work reflected the small town, rural life of which he was a
part. Today, that house is open for guests as the
comfortable-looking Inn on Covered Bridge Green.
In his autobiography the artist said that in Arlington "I knew I
had found what I wanted - new people, new surroundings. Now my
pictures grew out of the world around me, the life of my
neighbors. I didn't fake things anymore. I just painted the
things I saw."
By all reports a genuinely unpretentious, nice guy, Rockwell fit
easily into the rural Vermont lifestyle. He was well liked by
townspeople, who willingly modeled for him. Several of the 200
residents of Arlington who modeled for Rockwell's art nowadays
help staff the Arlington Gallery in town, which perpetuates the
artist's memory with exhibitions, reproductions, and memorabilia.
Neighbors, friends, and indeed his whole family got into the act
in "Christmas Homecoming," which became a Post cover in
1948. Wife Mary embraces son Jarvis, while pipe-smoking Norman,
middle son Tom (plaid shirt), and youngest son Peter (far left in
glasses) look on. The artist's friend, Grandma Moses, appears to
the left.
In 1953 Rockwell moved his family to Stockbridge, Mass., where
they occupied an old white-frame house that still stands across
the street from the celebrated Red Lion Inn. The studio he built
in the side yard is now on the museum grounds.
"I just love Stockbridge," said Rockwell. "Stockbridge is the
best of America, the best of New England." As before, he used the
people and places around him in his paintings.
Infatuated with painting, Rockwell worked in his studio seven
days a week, all year around. Over seven decades he created some
4,000 works, including 800 magazine covers and ad campaigns for
more than 150 companies.
Rockwell recognized the importance of his responsibilities as a
leading illustrator. "No man with a conscience can just bat out
illustrations," he observed. "He's got to put all of his talent,
all of his feelings into them. If illustration is not considered
art, then that is something that we have brought upon ourselves
by not considering ourselves artists. I believe we should say, 'I
am not just an illustrator, I am an artist.'"
Poking fun at the challenges of his profession, Rockwell
portrayed himself in "Artist Facing Blank Canvas (Deadline)"
(1938) as a disheveled, disorganized painter confronting a clean
canvas with a deadline looming. In "Triple Self-Portrait" (1960)
he depicted himself in the act of painting, peering around his
easel into a mirror.
The relaxed, offhand, often humorous look of Rockwell's paintings
belies his knowledge of world art and the painstaking effort that
went into posing models, taking photographs, gathering props, and
organizing compositions. Steeped in Old Master techniques, he
also admired Picasso's work and made a painting of Jackson
Pollock the centerpiece of a wonderful canvas.
Reflecting Rockwell's meticulous approach and knowledge of art,
"Art Critic" (1955) shows a student copyist closely examining an
Old Master portrait whose subject peers at him with equal
interest while burghers in an adjoining canvas look askance. In
preparing this delightful painting Rockwell studied Frans Hals's
dour Dutch matrons, Peter Paul Rubens's flirtatious women, and
photographs of his wife Mary's changing expressions, before
creating the subtly humorous look on the face of the lady in the
final composition.
Rockwell rarely idealized or glamorized his subjects. His images,
while uplifting, never became pompous. His humor was slyly
mocking, but never cruel.
Humor was a staple of his art. In his first Post cover,
"Boy with Baby Carriage" (1916), a dandified, dutiful lad pushing
a perambulator endures the taunts of his ball-playing
contemporaries. In "No Swimming" (1921), a quaint vision of
American innocence, rather than depicting the idyllic swimming
hole, he zeroed in on the frantic flight of the young trespassers
- and their dog.
"Doctor and Doll" (1929) shows the faithful family physician
listening intently as he applies his stethoscope to a young
girl's doll. "The Discovery" (1956) still brings a chuckle with
its depiction of a wide-eyed youngster who has just found Santa
Claus's white whiskers and red suit in a drawer in his father's
bureau.
Rockwell's intense patriotism and idealism achieved its fullest
expression during World War II. His famous "Four Freedoms"
pictures of 1943 exemplify his ability to encapsulate in a single
image our traditions and shared national values.
The idea of illustrating the four basic human rights - freedom of
speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear
- grew out of references in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's
1941 State of the Union address. The series drew on the artist's
firsthand experiences in Arlington town meetings, in church,
around the family dinner table, and with his children.
"I'll express the ideas in simple, everyday scenes," Rockwell
said of the series. "Take them out of the noble language of the
proclamation and put them in terms everybody can understand."
Reproduced in the Post alongside explanatory essays, the
"Four Freedoms" images provided wartime Americans with potent
symbols of "why we fight" and became enormously popular. The
original oil paintings toured the nation in a highly successful
war bond drive. Making Rockwell a national hero, they are today
omnipotent icons of American culture.
"Rosie the Riveter" (1943), the muscular war worker equipped with
lunch box, sandwich, and riveting gun, with Hitler's Mein
Kampf underfoot, all framed by the American flag, came to
symbolize contributions of women to the war effort.
Examples of Rockwell's knack for elevating everyday incidents to
new significance abound in the exhibition. "Saying Grace" (1951)
depicts a grandmother and grandson praying in a crowded
cafeteria, surrounded by gawking diners. The contrast between the
neatly dressed, pious duo and their working-stiff tablemates, who
clearly have not said grace, is delicious. Little wonder that
"Saying Grace" was chosen by Post readers as their
favorite cover.
The enduringly poignant "Girl at Mirror" (1954) depicts an
anxious preteen comparing her reflection to a photograph of
Hollywood sex siren Jane Russell. In "After the Prom" (1957) the
soda-jerk sniffs the gardenia on the teenager's dress as her
proud date and a grizzled working man look on smilingly. These
are wonderfully sympathetic recollections of the traumas and joys
of coming of age.
In "The Gossips" (1948) a string of characters relay the word in
a round-robin image. The couple filling out the form in the
presence of the bemused clerk and his cat in "The Marriage
License" (1955) recall a scene familiar to many who have gone
through the same happy rite of passage.
And who can forget the winning image of the kid with his bindle
sitting at the rural lunch counter with the nice cop and the
understanding counterman in "The Runaway" (1958)?
These visual narratives, vivid, realistic, familiar, and filled
with evocative details, have become lasting remembrances of
American life. Over the years, Rockwell's pictures helped ease
the transition from the old to the new, offering people a sense
of identity and comfort as they were confronted with a seemingly
endless series of changes. Among other things, "Going and Coming"
(1947), featuring three generations of a family on a beach
outing, suggested how new forms of recreation and vacation
accompanied proliferation of the automobile after World War II.
Rockwell is best known for his sentimental, nostalgic, and
humorous celebrations of what he described as "life as I would
like it to be," but toward the end of his career he also
addressed complex social and political issues of the day,
particularly civil rights and integration. In covers for
Look he captured the challenge of racial bigotry, the
youthful courage that helped desegregate Southern schools, and
the trauma of blacks moving into white neighborhoods.
"The Problems We All Live With" (1964) shows Ruby Graves, a black
child, being escorted by large US marshals implementing a Federal
court order to integrate New Orleans schools. "Nigger" scrawled
on the wall and remnants of a hurled tomato on the ground
underscore the tenseness of the situation as the little girl
marches steadfastly forward. In this dramatic, adroitly composed
vignette, Rockwell illuminated an ugly American reality for
millions to see.
In "New Kids in the Neighborhood" (1967) the artist illustrated
the issue of community integration, depicting two groups of
youngsters - one black, one white - eyeing each other with wary
curiosity in front of a moving van. It is their first encounter
after the arrival of the black children. One wonders whether the
baseball gloves the kids carry will ever be used in play
together. At a time when violence and incendiary language
punctuated the civil rights struggle, Rockwell cast the issue in
the most basic, human terms at a childhood/neighborhood level.
His unflagging optimism and idealism animated "Golden Rule"
(1961), in which he sought to include, as he put it, "people of
every race, creed, and color, depicting them with dignity and
respect." In "The Peace Corps (JFK's Bold Legacy)" (1966), he
conveyed the bright promise of President John F. Kennedy's global
project by placing the slain leader amidst young people who
sought to implement his vision.
It is a particular treat to see this exhibition in Stockbridge,
where so many of the sites utilized by Rockwell in his art are
still standing. An example is "Stockbridge Mainstreet at
Christmas (Home for Christmas)" (1967), measuring 26½ by 95½
inches, a delightful highlight to the show. To the far right is
the venerable Red Lion Inn; "The Marriage License" was set in the
old red-brick Town Offices, the third building from the right,
now the Yankee Candle Co., and Rockwell's first studio was on the
second floor of the center building (with a Christmas tree in the
window), now the Stockbridge Central Store.
Located in downtown Stockbridge for its first 24 years, the
Rockwell Museum moved to its present, 36-acre campus overlooking
the Housatonic River Valley in 1993. The handsome new museum,
designed by Robert A.M. Stern, holds the world's largest
collection of Rockwell works, including over 750 paintings and
drawings, and an archive of more than 100,000 photographs,
letters, and other materials.
The site also includes the artist's barn-red studio, relocated
from the grounds of his house. Replete with brushes, easel,
furnishings, and books, it looks much as it did in the artist's
day. An active educational program and rotating special
exhibitions add to the popularity of the well-attended museum.
In painting, as he put it, "ordinary people in everyday life
situations," Rockwell persevered in the work at which he
excelled, in spite of the scorn of the art-world elite. Although
not painted for exhibition, his oils look grand in museum
settings, suggesting how greatly he has been underestimated as an
easel painter. His oil canvases have sold in recent years for
well over six figures; "The Watchmaker" fetched an auction record
$937,500 at Sotheby's in 1996.
"Art Critic (study)," 1955. From the collection of the Norman
Rockwell Museum.
Certainly the current exhibition has given thousands of viewers a
renewed understanding of why Rockwell is generally considered the
most popular American artist of the Twentieth Century. Capturing
the spirit and atmosphere of Main Street, USA, as well as the
cheerful optimism and ambition of fellow Americans during a
troubled century, his timeless images reflect the aspirations and
values of Americans of a bygone era.
Rockwell's enduring legacy may be to remind us of the qualities
and heritage that have made this nation special. Not bad models
to guide us in the new millennium.
Rockwell admirers will want to acquire the handsome, fully
illustrated 200-page exhibition catalogue. Published by the
Norman Rockwell Museum and the High Museum of Art and distributed
by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., it sells for $35 in hardcover. Among
those contributing chapters to this most comprehensive analysis
of the artist's oeuvre are co-curators Knutson, Hennessey, and
Larson. They are joined by a varied group of experts who offer
often fresh perspectives on Rockwell's work, including art
historians Wanda M. Corn, Neil Harris, Karal Ann Marling, and
Robert Rosenblum; critic Dave Hickey; connoisseur Thomas Hoving;
psychiatrist Robert Coles; illustration expert Steven Heller;
museum directors Moffatt and Ned Rifkin; and sculptor Peter
Rockwell, the artist's son.
Linda Shearer, director of the Williams College Museum of Art,
and Michael G. Kammen, art historian at Cornell University, are
organizing a symposium entitled "Culture, Criticism and the Art
of Norman Rockwell." Examining the cultural significance and
changing place of Rockwell's work in the American art canon, it
will be held on September 22 at the Sterling and Francine Clark
Art Institute in nearby Williamstown, Mass.
The Norman Rockwell Museum is on Route 183. For information,
413-298-4100.
