My Favorite Artist: Norman Rockwell
Hello everyone!
Today is Throwback Thursday and I've been inspired by a friend of mine from work today. He recently went to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum and today he handed me a postcard with a Norman Rockwell picture on it, that he brought back for me. Before he left for the museum I had told him that he was my favorite artist and he so kindly brought me back a postcard with one of his pictures on it. So, thank you, Brian! I appreciate it! And thanks for the inspiration on today's post!
Why is Norman Rockwell my favorite artist? I love his work because every painting tells a story, not just one even, but you could see multiple possible stories in just one painting. He paints real life situations, some of the day, and some basic human emotions that you can see right in his work. He paints the history of American culture in motion. You can see the action in his paintings happening, as if you were really there.
Norman first began working for the Saturday Evening Post in 1916, when his first cover was submitted. He submitted 8 other cover pieces that same year and eventually painted 323 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over a 47 year span. His success on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post led to him painting covers for other magazines of the day, such as the Literary Digest, the Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life magazine. Norman also worked on 51 photos for a Boy Scout's Magazine, years after he had previously worked with Boy's Life Magazine painting Boy Scout photos. He also included covers of Boy Scouts on the covers of the Post as well throughout the years.
After he finished his career with the post, Norman spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, showing his interests in civil rights, poverty, and space exploration. He was also later commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Some of his portrait subjects included Judy Garland and even Colonel Sanders. He was also commissioned to illustrate more than 40 books, including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
During World War II he also created pieces using soldiers and current situations with their families. He also did political paintings and depicted the women who stayed home and began to work for the war effort, such as Rosie the Riveter.
Today there is a museum featuring collections of his work, including more than 700 original Rockwell paintings, drawings, and studies. Norman Rockwell produced more than 4,000 original works in his lifetime, most are either in public collections, or have been destroyed in fire or other misfortunes. The museum includes his actual studio as well, which was moved after his death.
In all of his works he has done, what I enjoy most about his work is that you can literally see the world clearly and nakedly through his work. You can see the expressions on the people's faces and feel like you're there with them. You can see the situation they're in and feel the emotion they're going through. You can see a story behind each picture that he paints. I enjoy knowing that he also sees the beauty of everyday situations in life the same way that I do. Being able to see the beauty in the good, the embarrassing, the scary, the sad, and all other events in life that he depicts.
I have seen his works throughout my life through pictures hanging in my grandma's house and a large coffee table book of his work, another great thing that he put together. Over the years I have admired his pieces and especially love his holiday pieces around Christmastime. One day it hit me that he was the artist I would keep going back to more than any other and suddenly realized that he was my favorite. So, it is my honor to write about him today and a special thanks again to the inspiration brought on by my co-worker who brought my this lovely post card:
Hope I have made some Norman Rockwell fans happy and made new fans as well. I'll see you all back here for Foodie Friday! Good night, all!