• agnomeunknown@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    When I was in college I had a professor who made the argument that Norman Rockwell’s work was best described as illustration rather than art. I think it was partly due to the realism and the focus on “normal” American life with a lack of interpretation or symbolism. But looking at this now I can’t help but think he was totally wrong. The look on the girl’s face that says “you should see the other guy,” the concerned adults having a conversation in the principal’s office, there is a whole story being told here in a single frame. To say this isn’t art seems crazy to me.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      He ended the Saturday Evening Post because he refused to ignore the civil rights era and was stonchly on the side of desegrigation and equal rights, and the post refused to ‘‘be too political’’ and stop hiring him for covers, and no one bought them without his covers.

    • GladiusB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      I would argue there is a deeper interpretation. That of the girls always told to smile to look better, yet she is obviously desheveled and rough. But finds joy in the chaos that has ensued from her keeping to herself. The background being the stereotypical school of the time and she is there to shake up the system.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      I have a print of this on wood. My mom got it from her mom. We’ve had it my whole life. I’ve moved 22 times. I’ve lost almost everything I’ve ever owned at least twice. Very few possessions make it through that many moves. But we’ve kept this picture the whole time. It always hangs in the kitchen, except for this time around when it hands above my bed in the living room.

      The only other things we own that we’ve had even close to as long are a painting of Snoopy I pulled out of someone’s curbside trash, a red table we got off the side of the road, and some antique pottery and glassware of grandparents that hasn’t been unboxed since the 90s.

      Edit to add, view from my bed: 1000002556

      Ignore the dust/cobwebs. I do not dust like I should.

  • doctorskull@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    I respect his contributions to the game and I know this is a thermonuclear take but I fuckin hate Norman Rockwell’s art. The art style. The subjects he painted. Their facial expressions. The soup. Just not at all a fan of his whole deal.

    No shade at OP for sharing this, though 🙏

    • Hoimo@ani.socialEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      I have a similar reaction, but I find it hard to explain what it is about this picture that puts me off. I think part of it is the mismatch between the highly detailed painting and the cartoony pose and expression of the girl. The way people captioned it in this comment section also reminded me of a cartoon. “You should see the other guy”, sure, but if that captures the entire painting (and I think it does), why put so much effort into it? A simpler style could have conveyed the same message. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all realistic paintings are a waste of effort, but this painting isn’t realistic, it’s just detailed.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    Know what I love about Rockwell? The hands. Artists always talk about how hard it is to draw hands. Rockwell, that dude could draw hands, and he knew it. He drew hands in this picture, through the doorway, when there was absolutely no need to, because he could. And if you look at a bunch of his pictures, he doesn’t just draw hands, he draws hands doing complicated things, making complex gestures, gripping fiddly little objects, he draws old people with wrinkled skin and funky joints on their hands… he was goddamn good at drawing hands and he was not shy about showing off his hand-drawing talent.

    People calling him an illustrator and not an artist are just jealous of his hands.

    Edit:

    Hands:

    • stoicmaverick@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      I think it’s pretty well accepted that, even for a classically trained artist, the three most difficult things to paint accurately are human hands, a horse in motion, and the concept of epistemology.