Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Rockwell -- 1916


Fun fact -- it was 93 years ago today, on May 20, 1916, when the Saturday Evening Post published the very first painting by Norman Rockwell on the cover of their magazine. It was called Boy With A Baby Carriage. Norman Rockwell was just eighteen-years-old at the time and the painting made him an instant success. One interesting fact is that Rockwell used one boy, Billy Paine, to model as all three boys in the painting.

It's silly, but when I think of Norman Rockwell, the movie Funny Farm comes to mind. That's one of my all-time favorite movies. There's a part near the end when Elizabeth Farmer asks the townsfolk to look and act like the people on the covers of the SEP painted by Norman Rockwell. Even the cover of the movie itself was designed to look like one of Rockwell's paintings. I love Norman Rockwell's work. His everyday scenes of American life are etched in our minds forever. His work was featured on 321 covers of the Saturday Evening Post. My favorite painting of his is Girl At The Mirror. It came out in 1954. I loved that one and could relate to it. A friend of mine had a framed print of it on her bedroom wall -- so cool.



How about you -- do you have a favorite Rockwell painting?

11 comments:

  1. I love his paintings, they're icons. I'll have to look around on the internet sometime and see if I can find a site that has them all. It would be fun to see them again.

    Nancy

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  2. Can't say as I have a favorite. But I do love the homeiness of his work.

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  3. I love Rockwell's paintings. He captured emotions and body language so beautifully - a very hard thing to do. I don't have a particular favourite, though.

    Gale

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  4. Love Rockwell. My favorite is of a little girl sewing a jacket for an old man...so sweet!

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  5. Embarassingly enough, I'm not familiar enough with his work to pick a favorite. Although I really like the girl in the mirror you posted.

    But I do remember my best friend's parents had a Rockwell of a boy in a doctor's office hanging in their den. If I were to see that one again, I'd be instantly transported back to being a tween at Trish's house.

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  6. I didn't know he started at eighteen. Interesting fact!

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  7. What an icon Rockwell is.
    I distinctly remember the one of the boy pulling up his pants at the doctor's office (I think this was in my dr.'s office as a kid). I think it made me giggle because you could see part of the kid's butt!

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  8. Ha! My doctor had the same picture. I loved it!

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  9. I don't have a favorite but the last one you posted really tells alot doesn't it?

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  10. The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA is a wonderful place. I didn't know that much about him until my husband and I visited the museum. The views from his studio are stunningly beautiful. He was a man ahead of his times. Check out http://www.nrm.org/

    My favorite is "Problems we all live with" of the little black girl being escorted to school. Very moving.

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  11. Norman Rockwell is my all-time favourite American artist. I have travelled to Vermont and Massachucettes to go to his museums and I just love his work! I have Xmas decorations, coffee mugs, pictures, decorative plates and many other things with his work on it. My favourite? The Marriage License. It first caught my eye because the calendar behind the couple signing the marriage license was set at my birth day (June 11) though it was 1955 and I wasnt' born til 1970. Since the first time I saw the picture, I have rarely been able to pass up buying that picture on so many things. Vince thinks I am crazy because I don't even collect Rockwell- I collect that one print of Rockwell. lol

    When I went to Vermont, I met 3 of Rockwell's former models (2 boys and a girl) The museum is staffed with all previous models though most are quite senior in age now. It was very interesting to chat with them and talk about Rockwell and his pictures and what he meant to the town.

    Great blog Rena!

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