True American Pride - Real Things to Celebrate About This Nation (#10)
THE PAINTINGS OF NORMAN ROCKWELL
“The secret to so many artists living so long is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they're always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.” (Norman Rockwell)
For Day 10, I'm celebrating the classic American painter Norman Rockwell. I've always been drawn to his paintings (perhaps it's because I have an "old soul" in me. Some say I belonged back in the 1940's!).
"Triple Self-Portrait", 1960
Norman Perceval Rockwell was a popular 20th century American artist and illustrator. Throughout his lifetime, Rockwell painted over 4,000 works, including 100’s of covers for popular U.S. magazines like “The Saturday Evening Post”, “Life”, “Boy’s Life”, and “Literary Digest”. In 1916, at the age of 22, he painted his 1st cover for “The Saturday Evening Post”, “Boy With Baby Carriage”. (see below). Rockwell would go on to paint 321 more covers for the magazine he considered to be the “greatest show window in America.”
Rockwell’s works were loved by many because they seemed to immortalize traditional American values and homespun characters. They also often displayed a wit and humor that simply made the viewer smile. For me, a classic example of this is his painting “Young Lady with a Shiner”. The rumpled tomboy depicted looks like she gave better than she got, and you would love to hear the story being told the principal!
n 1943, inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s address to Congress, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms paintings. Rockwell’s interpretations of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear proved to be enormously popular. The works toured the United States in an exhibition that was jointly sponsored by the Post and the U.S. Treasury Department and, through the sale of war bonds, raised more than $130 million for the war effort. My favorite is “Freedom of Speech” (see below). The strength of Americans comes from our ability to stand up and speak our minds. That right must never be taken for granted.
Some have criticized his paintings for being idealistic or too simple. Serious art aficianados claimed his subject matter was “pollyanish” and “lacked artistic merit”. But I've always thought they expressed things about the true American culture of the time and what was good, noble, and honorable about it. When asked about this, Rockwell once said, "Maybe as I grew up and found the world wasn't the perfect place I had thought it to be, I unconsciously decided that if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be, and so painted only the ideal aspects of it.” And that’s why I enjoy paintings like the one below, “The Runaway” (1958).
In honor of his lifetime of work, in 1977, Rockwell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford. Rockwell died at his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on November 8, 1978 at the age of 84. Today you can see his works at the Norman Rockwell Museum of Art in his home town of Stockbridge MA, and you can ride the bike trail to nearby Lake Averic that he could be seen pedaling along most days.