A biography of artist Norman Rockwell.
The paper looks at the background of Norman Rockwell and discusses how Rockwell is synonymous with bedrock American values. The paper discusses how he was scorned by critics but adored by the public and reveals that decades later, the counterparts of those very critics are realizing that the public had seen in Rockwell something they in their professionalism had missed; the humanity of the works that reached above the elite and touched and immortalized the masses. The paper shows how he represented America, and it is only after his death that they are realizing it.
“In a 1949 lecture to students at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Norman Rockwell told of visiting the Art Institute of Chicago and being approached by a student, who asked, “Are you Norman Rockwell?” Delighted by the recognition, Rockwell identified himself, only to be told, “Well, our professor says you stink!”
That about summed the life and works of Norman Rockwell. Adored by the people he was scorned by the professionals who saw in his work nothing more than the ordinary. They claimed that he lacked the flair that marked a great artist and his work was too ‘average’ to be representative of his times. It seemed to them too commercial to be real art.
“Though the critics condemned him to remain unknown the public did not have the same opinion. In his work they saw themselves and believed that he represented the social situation of the times. They believed that he was a historian who was making their lives immortal. ‘The people portrayed in his work were real people, and we can recognize ourselves in many of his pictures. He has been called a historian of this country’s more innocent years, but he denied this. “I’m not a historian, he said, I just painted the things I saw around me.
That about summed the life and works of Norman Rockwell. Adored by the people he was scorned by the professionals who saw in his work nothing more than the ordinary. They claimed that he lacked the flair that marked a great artist and his work was too ‘average’ to be representative of his times. It seemed to them too commercial to be real art.
“Though the critics condemned him to remain unknown the public did not have the same opinion. In his work they saw themselves and believed that he represented the social situation of the times. They believed that he was a historian who was making their lives immortal. ‘The people portrayed in his work were real people, and we can recognize ourselves in many of his pictures. He has been called a historian of this country’s more innocent years, but he denied this. “I’m not a historian, he said, I just painted the things I saw around me.