For the Love of Rockwell...

Oftentimes, it comes down to the point where I discover an artist that is so touching and so skilled in calibre, that I could sit down and stare at their artwork for hours, digesting what my eyes see in this brain, and finding the symmetry in the pieces they've created.

Norman Rockwell isn't new, and he's dead now. He's been dead some twenty five years. However, I've just recently stumbled along his art. He made some of the most gorgeous "Americana" pieces I've ever seen in my life. The people have such realistic faces. he captured the essence of people, of the kindness and brightness that is present in all of human nature, and in some cases, he probably polished it up and made it more palatable where the subject may have been lacking. He painted the spirit of children to perfection, and in current times it probably would have been speculated upon that he was obsessed with them. I think he just saw the goodness of humanity, when there is so much darkness to wade through. Granted, most of his work was patriotic, and I'm not. 90 percent of his stuff was Americana, and I'm Canadian. Tit for tat, I suppose. That being said, I can appreciate someone that paints so well that it's often hard to distinguish between photographical and created works.

Most of you at one point or another have seen the image of "Rosie the Riveter", and this piece was something that I've appreciated for years, back when I was very political, and very feminist. It's a piece that was created to mobilize women into the workforce during the second world war, when most of the factory working men had to go off to war, leaving factories un...(ahem)...manned. The image of Rosie the Riveter was used as propaganda, depicting a pretty, brunette with her head in a red kerchief dotted in white, with her sleeves rolled up showing her bicep. At least the original propaganda piece was.


Left: Original Image Right: Norman Rockwell interpretation

Norman Rockwell took his own spin on it, turning her into even more of an icon for the women of that era. And while the image of Rosie was formidable in strength, she was feminine at the same time, with her merry red curls held back by a welding mask from her face, her painted nails and red lipstick, and her brown penny loafers resting on a crumpled copy of Adolph Hitler's "Mien Kampf" making a distinct political statement that women working in the American workforce was equal to the men fighting in the trenches and sacrificing their lives in Europe. Both were making attempts to stamp out Fascism, one doing so by supporting the other.

At any rate, Enough yammering. If you want to see the other stuff he's done, Here's a link to another site that shows a bunch of his art. Enjoy.