
The Awakening of Norman Rockwell - prismatic
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2020/2/19/21052356/norman-rockwell-the-problem-we-all-live-with-saturday-evening-post
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thunderbong
Norman Rockwell's paintings always invoke a strange feeling in me. I can't
quite explain what it is. It's so much centered around America and there are
so many Americanisms in it. But even without that, I think it shows the trials
and tribulations of humanity everywhere, with a hint of humour to show that
life should not be really taken too seriously.

And as I grow older I notice small things in his painting which I seem to have
missed earlier. But even then, every time I see one of his paintings, the
first thing that strikes me always is his enduring and humorous take on life
and humanity.

Of course, he's also painted portraits and as the article shows, many
important and more realistic and tragic side of humanity, but, for me, Norman
Rockwell will always be the painter who showed me very early in life, that in
most of the world, we have similar struggles and challenges. And how to see
life with a sense of humour, because after all, it's really for a very short
time.

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trothamel
I visited the Norman Rockwell museum, in Massachusetts, years and years ago.
Totally worth the visit.

The article talks about "the somewhat too-vivid yellow of the marshals’
armbands" as being out of place. But at least according to the tour guide,
yellow was a color Rockwell used to symbolize hope.

I'll toss in my favorite of his, "Lincoln for the Defense", showing the young
lawyer using an almanac to prove the testimony of an eyewitness incorrect.

[https://vitruvius-
cdn.museumseven.com/render/600-600@2/dp-26...](https://vitruvius-
cdn.museumseven.com/render/600-600@2/dp-261065-22.jpg)

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jcims
Thank you so much for linking that image, I’ve never seen it before. Can’t get
enough of ol’ Abe and seeing Norman Rockwell’s interpretation of him in the
trenches is amazing.

Edit: Just ordered a print. I needed some inspiration.

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trothamel
I hope it inspires you, and others as well.

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macintux
Since the article doesn’t include an image of it, here’s _Murder in
Mississippi_.

[http://www.nrm.org/MT/text/MurderMississippi.html](http://www.nrm.org/MT/text/MurderMississippi.html)

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jf
What a great article. With only a hint of the usual art critic smarm, it
deftly gives depth and context to a side of Rockwell that I didn’t realize
existed.

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lonelappde
Norman Rockwell's paintings are underappreciated at first glance because they
have a very direct superficial appearance. It's easy to look at it and say "OK
picture" and move on, unlike an enigmatic piece that taubts you and challenges
you think for a while to get _anything_ out of it. But if you take the time to
look more closely, there's often deeper meaning.

His technique is double edged. Negatively, it leads to the work being
dismissed too quickly. Positively, it sneaks last our mental defenses against
being challenged in uncomfortable ways, and then later we notice the challenge
to what we thought we already knew.

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jhbadger
I think the author ignores just how radical Rockwell's earlier "Four Freedoms"
were, so his work on civil rights didn't just come out of nowhere. Yes, the
"Four Freedoms" can be interpreted as mere "patriotism", but they were based
on a speech of FDR's that included "freedom from fear" and "freedom from
want", which were both rather radical inclusions as to what freedom meant at
the time.

