Freedom Fighter Media - Norman Rockwell, Gutless Illustrator

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12 July 2010

Norman Rockwell, Gutless Illustrator

(art by Norman Rockwell)

"Norman Rockwell is often championed as the great painter of American virtues. Yet the one virtue most nearly absent from his work is courage. He doesn't challenge any of us, or himself, to think new thoughts or try new acts or look with fresh eyes. From the docile realism of his style to the received ideas of his subjects, Rockwell reliably keeps us right in the middle of our comfort zone." (Blake Gopnik, The Washington Post, 4 July 2010)

Gopnik is commenting on a Rockwell exhibit of 57 paintings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, "every one of them is a perfect depiction of what we've been taught to think of as true Rockwellian America," says Gopnik. I would certainly hope that Rockwell paintings of America would be a "perfect depiction" of Rockwellian America. What does Gopnik expect them to be? A perfect example of a fantasy world filled with mermaids?

(Summer Time, art by Norman Rockwell, The Saturday Evening Post, 5 August 1933)

I'm a fan of illustration art and had a chance to review a review of Remington and Russell exhibited in Los Angeles. Gopnik's opinions of illustration art are cut from a cloth of snobby effetism. Even if he actually liked Rockwell, he couldn't let any real warmth show for the man, "Rockwell sold us the vision of America as a place where troubles are never more than 'scrapes' and flaws are always 'foibles.'"

If Rockwell was "selling" Gopnik is smart enough not to be buying it, "Rockwell achieved a photographic vision meant to convince us of the simple truth of what his images show. Even after all these years, high realist pictures never fail to play the magic trick of making us think that because they look so real, they must show things as they are."

No. Rockwell's sole aim in life was to take a job, do it to the best of his abilities, and make a living. He wasn't selling us magic tricks nor was he "making us think" things were real that weren't. Rockwell was simply good at his job. Very good. And yes, the average American loved him. He became a celebrity and could sell a product just by endorsing it. Today his prints are still collected and enjoyed while his originals are selling rather well at auction ("Breaking Home Ties," a Post cover, went for $15.42 million in 2006).

Gopnik's piece wouldn't be an anti-illustration article of Washington Post caliber without some out-of-the-box psychoanalyzing, "Sometimes Rockwell so badly wants his photo-based pictures to look painted, even once they've been reduced and reproduced in print, that he starts by laying down a rough surface of generically expressive brushstrokes, then applies his tightly rendered image on top. Those brushstrokes tell us that his Rockwellian America is better than simply real -- it belongs to the hallowed realm of art."

Wow: "so badly wants" and "is better than simply real" aren't even artistic judgements. They're pop-typing. And if you can tell me what "generically expressive brushstrokes" means, I'd really like to know as it's not an art term I'm familiar with.

(Del Monte Coffee, art by Melbourne Brindle, 1948)

(Let's Give Him Enough And On Time, 1942)

I can imagine Gopnik trying to wrap his head around the image below. It has everything a lefty might hate: scouting, prayer, a founding father, a weapon. Yikes!

(Boy Scouts of America, art by Norman Rockwell, 1950)

(Rosie The Riveter, art by Norman Rockwell, The Saturday Evening Post, 29 May 1943)

Does Gopnik have to like Norman Rockwell? Does he have to like any illustration art? He does not. But he is often just wrong "His young women are always 'spunky' or 'hotties.'" Always? I wonder if Rosie the Riveter felt hot or just sweaty from hard work.

Finally, what's all of this stuff about courage, "the one virtue most nearly absent from his work is courage"? Rockwell was an entrepreneur, self-employed. Along with fighting for the weak, raising children, and being of good character when no one is looking, making your own way in the world takes a lot of guts.

Gopnik does throw Rockwell a bone at one point, "Toward the end of his career, Rockwell got Look Magazine to publish a few heroic scenes from the civil rights movement -- at just the moment when such subjects had moved into the mainstream of American thought." Sorry Norman, too little too late. Let me channel my inner Berkeley professor: Just look at the painting below. Hurumph! There's still subtle racism there, no? The black children are stuck with a white cat while the white kids, who outnumber them I might add, have not only a black dog, but a German shepherd, the preferred dog of the Police, the MAN!

Gopnik does nail what an illustrator is paid to do, "To sell the publications and goods his pictures were in aid of, Rockwell's images needed to be grasped and digested in seconds," but just can't resist a kick in the ribs, "and unlike really notable art, they reliably achieved such fast-food effects." Gopnik doesn't give an example of what he feels is "really notable art," but I hope it isn't something like this.

(Moving In, art by Norman Rockwell, Look, 16 May 1967

I'll close with one of my favorite Rockwell paintings. I like the story it tells and I think Rockwell does a masterful job in the telling.

(Saying Grace, art by Norman Rockwell, The Saturday Evening Post, 24 November 1951)

Thomas J. Clement

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