Norman Rockwell and American visual culture

Interview With Norman Rockwell

The paintings of Norman Rockwell have emerged as some of the most prominent American works that truly capture the American spirit. Since his work was categorized as illustration and was most famously featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, fine art critics were slow to acknowledge the importance of Norman Rockwell as a true artist, though his work was enormously popular during his lifetime and has endured as a crucial element in America's perception of itself in the 20th century (Lucidcafe, 2005 at (www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/rockwell.html).Through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, the 1950s and 1960s, Rockwell illustrations were considered to be a part of daily life. This paper will depict a fictional interview with Norman Rockwell, with the theme of his paintings, depictions of life experiences, and personality as the subject matter of the interview transcript.

In an interview with Norman Rockwell, I first asked him to give me a very brief overview of his life and how he decided to begin painting. He stated that he was born in New York City, and transferred from high school at the age of 16 to the Chase Art School. H said he then went on to the National Academy of Design, and finally, to the Art Students League, where he was taught by Thomas Fogerty and George Bridgeman. Norman stated that as a student, he was given smaller, less important jobs, but his major breakthrough came in 1912 with his first book illustration for C.H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature (Wikipedia, 2005 at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell).

He also told me that during the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, being 6 feet tall and 140 pounds, he was eight pounds underweight (Wikipedia, 2005 at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell).To compensate, he stated that he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and donuts, and was enlisted the next day (Wikipedia, 2005 at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell).However, he said that he was given the role of a military artist, and did not see any action during his tour of duty.

A then asked him if there was a common general theme to his paintings, and if he could describe it in words. He stated that the majority of his works illustrated what he determined to be "the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed (Lucidcafe, 2005 at (www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/rockwell.html)."

Norman stated that he was a simple, modest man, and impressed himself on America's collective imagination by his stubborn adherence to the old values (Lucidcafe, 2005 at (www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/rockwell.html).He stated that he felt as though his ability to relate these values to the events and circumstances of a rapidly changing world gave him a special gift as a storyteller (Finch, 1995 at pg. 7-8).

My next question for Norman was whether he felt as though his art provided a commodity that people could rely on. I assumed his answer would be yes, due to the fact that he ad completed over 4,000 illustrations throughout his 47-year career, and his contributions to the Saturday Evening Post for whom he produced 332 covers, beginning in 1916 (Lucidcafe, 2005 at (www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/rockwell.html).Norman was very modest and simply stated that he tried to "get the point across" in his paintings, and that he preferred countrified realism (Lucidcafe, 2005 at (www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/rockwell.html).He further stated that "things happen in the country, but you don't see them. In the city you are constantly confronted by unpleasantness. I find it sordid and unsettling (Lucidcafe, 2005 at (www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/rockwell.html)." He indicated that his time spent in the country was a great influence on his idyllic approach to storytelling on canvas.

I went on to ask Norman why he thought his paintings were so popular to the American people; was it because he chose to paint life as he wanted to see it? Norman stated that in his work he tried to portray what everyone's dream of America was (Finch, 1995 at pg. 7). He said that he tried to bring it to life and give it the look of documentary reality (Finch, 1995 at pg. 7). He further stated that he illustrated life this way so that "Americans could see themselves as warm, decent, hard-working citizens of a country bountiful enough to accommodate their boundless optimism (Finch, 1995 at pg. 7). I replied that it was this very essence of his work, his themes and unique style that have passed the test of time making him the best known of All-American artists.

My next question was what beliefs he held about the American people that helped to illustrate as candidly as he did. Norman reiterated that he believed in the fundamental decency of the great majority of human beings, which was the most deep-seated of all his values (Finch, 1995 at pg. 7). He also stated that this belief "enabled him to perceive a continuity in behavior patterns undisturbed by shifts in the social masses (Finch, 1995 at pg. 7). I responded that as a result of his beliefs, many homes have Norman Rockwell illustrated postcards, letters, and portraits hanging on the walls of their homes. I asked him whether any of his work was non-commissioned. He stated that very few of his works were non-commissioned; even portraits of his family members and friends were sometimes done as illustrations for publication (TheArtists.Org, 2005 at (http://www.theartists.org/artist/rockwell_norman.cfm).Norman stated that later on in his career, he did some painting and sketching that was not on commission. Most of these landscapes and portraits were done on his extensive travels through the United States and internationally (TheArtists.Org, 2005 at (http://www.theartists.org/artist/rockwell_norman.cfm).

Since Norman mentioned his travels, I decided to ask him a further question regarding these travels. He stated that in the 1960s and 1970s, he and his wife Molly traveled to many places around the world (TheArtists.Org, 2005 at (http://www.theartists.org/artist/rockwell_norman.cfm).He explained that sometimes the trips were related to specific commissions, such as his illustrations for Look magazine's story on the Peace Corps, which took him to Africa, Asia and South America, and that other travels were purely for pleasure and personal reasons. He also told me a brief story about a trip to Europe that he took in 1927. He said that his sketchbook was stolen in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, however, regarding the sketchbook, he said "I'd done it just for my own pleasure. No deadline; I wasn't planning to sell it. I still almost cry when I think about it. I've never lost anything I felt so bad about (TheArtists.Org, 2005 at (http://www.theartists.org/artist/rockwell_norman.cfm)." This story was one of the most touching responses that I heard from him, and also shows his dedication and sincerity that surrounds his work.

Since my interview time was winding down, I decided to ask him next about one of my favorite paintings, his portrait entitled Freedom from Want, which shows a family having their meal on that particular holiday. I asked him whether there was any background information about it. He stated that it was part of four pieces that he painted to illustrate the Four Freedoms in WWII (Patterson, 2004). Norman went on to state that those four freedoms were freedom of religion, of speech, from want, and from fear (Patterson, 2004). Although these freedoms may appear to be a common theme in art, Norman stated that "Commonplaces never become tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative (Patterson, 2004)."