Artist of the Day: Norman Rockwell

I very nearly wasn't going to get three posts up this month.  In fact, if it weren't for a random idea that occurred to me while laying in bed one night last week, I probably wouldn't have even got  more than one. (For those of you who follow me from Facebook, I never posted a link to that post, but you can find it down below).

Anyways, I was getting kind of discouraged that I wouldn't have time to write an artist post this month, what with midterms and projects and my new/old early morning custodial job.  I was resigned to being a blogging failure, but then I remembered something.  I already had an artist I could feature that I'd already done all the research for.

Let me explain - I'm taking a class this semester called Exploring Teaching Art Education.  I randomly decided last semester to attempt to get my teaching license (in addition to my Anthropology minor and a BFA in Studio Art . . . pretty much, I'm never gonna make it out of college).  Anyways, we had to do this project last week where we researched an artist and created a presentation and activity that we'll have to teach to the class.  And so I decided that it really wouldn't be that much more work to turn my presentation into a blog post.

So, without any further huggermugger, hulabaloo, or frackus, I present to you (one of my all-time favorite artists/illustrators), Norman Rockwell.

Triple Self Portrait

I cannot pinpoint the exact time I first encountered his work (even today his illustrations still decorate myriads of Christmas cards, notebooks, and all sorts of ephemera), but I can tell you the first time I came face to face with one of his originals.

I was at the BYU Museum of Art (a year or so ago, I don't exactly remember why . . .) and I was wandering the galleries, somewhat bored to be honest.  Then I stumbled upon a Norman Rockwell exhibition (which, by the way, I just discovered is still going on).  I looked at the paintings and realized they were very familiar to me, though I wasn't really sure why.  When I read the name "Norman Rockwell," something clicked in my head.  I knew this artist, I recognized this artist, I liked this artist.  It sounds really ridiculous now that I'm trying to explain it, but I connected with Rockwell's art and I've always remembered that feeling.  Since then (even more so in the last week) I've learned more about Rockwell and his art and he's become one of my artist heroes.

Born in New York in 1894, Rockwell began his artistic training at 14 in a fine arts high school.  He finished his schooling while still in his teens and was practically immediately hired to illustrate Boy's Life magazine.  At 20, Rockwell was commissioned to create a number of covers for the magazine he's now most often associated with - The Saturday Evening Post.  Rockwell created over 300 covers for the magazine during the next 47 years.

It was during this time that Rockwell painted one of his most famous series: The Four Freedoms.  They were created in response to a speech given by Franklin D Roosevelt during the Second World War.  They appeared first as covers of The Saturday Evening Post, and then they toured the United States in effort to raise money and sell war bonds.

Left to Right: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom from Want

Later in life, Rockwell worked for Look magazine, and his work focused more and more on controversial issues of the time - civil rights, poverty, etc.  He died in 1978 in Stockbridge, MA, where there's now a museum dedicated to his life and works.

While researching Rockwell's life for this presentation I have to do, I came across two quotes that sort of encapsulate the reasons I like Norman Rockwell so much.

"Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed."

 and

"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."

I think some people I know in the art program would be somewhat disgusted with that last quote, or at least a little condescending of such an attitude.  It seems that many artists (and just people in general) would say an attitude like that is cowardly or unintelligent.  They might say Rockwell is ignoring life as it is.  I don't think that's true, though.  From looking at Rockwell's illustrations I'd say he knows very well what life is, for everyone.  His illustrations aren't about being rich or powerful, that isn't the ideal world he's depicting.  His illustrations celebrate the everyday, the comical, the peaceful, the exciting, the disappointing.  They celebrate life.

To me, Norman Rockwell was the perfect patriotic.  He isn't the kind of person who shows their patriotism by posting hateful articles about the state of the government or education or foreign relations to your facebook wall,  He focused on the good things that were happening.  And that doesn't mean he ignored the bad.  Rockwell often depicted New York slums and the escapades of immigrant children and their families.  One of his most famous paintings was of Ruby Bridges, one of the first African Americans integrated into an all-white school.

Yes, the painting is about racism in America and how it's a bad thing.  You can see offensive words scrawled on the wall behind her and tomatoes that have been thrown, but the sentiment is about moving forward.  Nowadays, I feel like people think that anger is the only motivation that will actually inspire change in the world, but I feel like Norman Rockwell focused on inspiring people in more happy ways.  By informing his audience and showing the progress that is being made and that can be made.  Anger might be an effective tool to stir someone's emotions, but what does one do with those emotions?  Cause more violence?  Add more hate to the world?

I didn't really intend for this post to take this direction, but I'm glad that it did, because I've just made a connection.  I think people like Norman Rockwell are difficult to find nowadays, but there is one person that I know of who I think does something very similar.

If you have a Facebook account you've likely heard of the page Humans of New York.  It's run by a photographer who takes photos of people he meets on the streets of New York (and sometimes around the world).  Along with the photo he adds quotes from the people.  Sometimes they're funny one-liners, but sometimes they're life stories that are sad or inspiring or just plain interesting.  Brandon, the photographer, never adds in his own opinions or things other than maybe supplying a little context for the photo or quote.  He shows people as they are, or as they want to be, and he's been able to do some amazing things because of that.  Just this past week he met a kid in Brownsville, New York who talked about his principal.  The next day, Brandon met with the principal and photographed her.  Now, social media has exploded in support for this school.  They've raised over a million dollars in less than a week to send the sixth graders of this school on a trip to Harvard and to establish a scholarship fund.  It's a really inspiring story from a seedy part of New York city that isn't about hate or violence or crime that started with a photograph, a piece of art, and is making a difference.  Here's a link to their fundraiser: "Let's Send Kids to Harvard"

People are good, guys.  And that's what we should be focused on.  That's what I want to focus on, and that's why I love Norman Rockwell.

Hope your January was great (I'm feeling pretty accomplished) and here's to a fantastic February!