Off to See the Country: Norman Rockwell, An American Icon

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Norman Rockwell, An American Icon

Kim and I have both wanted to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and we finally got to go there on our way up to Vermont and got to view his complete collection of paintings.

This is the museum where his paintings and exhibits are found. The house where he lived and painted, which is just next to this...up the hill... was not open for visiting.

When you enter, there's the obligatory store to the left (where you can drop loads of cash on Norman Rockwell key chains, pens, magnets...oh....and a few of his painting reproductions). In front are two large viewing areas. Downstairs you will find his entire collection of Saturday Evening Post covers on the walls as well as a short movie of his life.

Norman Rockwell considered himself a storyteller, not just an artist. Here are some of his painting. I'm sure you'll recognize a number of them and you can see for yourself his storytelling ability in his art. I'll caption some of these but mostly they're here for your "viewing enjoyment".

You can see Rockwell has painted himself into this one....the guy with the pipe.

This one is called "The Gossip" and, if you follow the characters through, you'll see the very first lady is also at the very end, being scolded by her husband. Rockwell used local people as his models and, because many were somewhat offended by being seeing as gossips he put himself as the husband at the end....who happened to be what all the gossip was about!

First time on a train and he's trying to figure out how far his money will go. The kind expression on the porter's face is evident.

I zoomed in on the porter's face to show the wonderful way in which Rockwell captured the expression.

Rockwell is painting himself younger and with less gray. Look at the swatches in the upper right of his canvas....famous portrait paintings...like Van Gogh.

LOVE this one....such humanness seen here.

The Homecoming...look at his shy girlfriend hiding along the side.

The shoe repairman...trying to figure out how to fix the girl's doll's broken shoe.

Terrific before-and-after depiction of a family day trip.

The soldier swore he was through with peeling potatoes once he got out of the army but, once he got home with Mom, it seemed to be the best thing to do in the whole world.