Artist: Norman Rockwell
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell
Commentary: Norman Rockwell’s work began in the 1920’s and continued through the 1970’s. I am a child of the eighties. His work was so prolific, so consumed by American culture and so approachable that children from later generations such as myself have grown up with his images and have come to see them as part of the American cultural landscape. His images of boy scouts engaged in manly activities are still in use today by numerous publications. His images of Rosy the Riveter are an icon of the WWII generation of American workers. Norman Rockwell was an artist, an illustrator, and a husband. He married three times during his life and suffered from mental instability during the later stages. Through all of this, he continued to work as a full time painter. His works reflected the stylized ideals of American life, despite the fact that his life was anything but stable or ideal. His technique especially regarding the presentation of the human form was masterful. His chosen subject matter unfortunately in most works was unappealing from an artistic sense in that he chose to portray illustrated staged scenes of idealized life rather than reality or hyper reality. Similar to Nazi wartime sponsored propaganda; Rockwell’s work straddled the line between art and artistic propaganda. Regardless, Normal Rockwell was a masterful painter whose work has endured the test of time to date. He has made his mark on the American art scene. His work spoke to a generation of people searching for the American Dream. Only time will tell if his work will speak so elegantly to those who view it in the future, or if it will simply be seen as a stalwart of false hope from our nations past.
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