Art Chowder November | December, Issue 24 | Page 35

R
ockwell may have had
the last laugh. His Post cover
for January 13, 1962 shows a
conservatively dressed man
in a gray suit, with his back
to the viewer, who is facing a
Pollock-like drip canvas. Its
telling title, The Connoisseur,
was not chosen by Rockwell.
(His titles were always applied
by others 3 ). But he was really
after art that spoke directly to
people, bypassing the need
of some middleman or critic
to explain what the artist was
doing.
The even bigger laugh may
be owed to the swing of the
proverbial pendulum at the
turn of the 21st century. From
1999 to 2002 a landmark
exhibition of the works of
Norman Rockwell traveled
to seven museums across the
United States, including the
Guggenheim in New York.
Rockwell at the modernist
Guggenheim? The sign of
a real turning point came
with the 1999 publication of
the exhibition’s catalogue,
Norman Rockwell: Pictures
for the American People,
which contained a set of very
thoughtful essays. Reading
them led me to realize that
there is more to this artist, this
man, than I ever imagined.
But there is an odd, almost
existential problem with
Norman Rockwell. He has
long been a fashionable target
to dismiss, minimize, or fault
in some way. Finally we may
once again call him an artist,
but still not a great one.
Norman Rockwell
“The Runaway” - Runaway Boy and Clown
1922, oil on canvas
36” x 24”, signed lower right
LIFE Magazine June 1, 1922 cover
Norman Rockwell
“Threading the Needle”
1922, oil on canvas
25 1/2” x 20 1/2”, signed lower right
The Saturday Evening Post April 8, 1922 cover
The two double black lines went below the
magazine’s full title across the top of Post cov-
ers from 1916 to 1940, and posed a constant
composition challenge until they were eliminat-
ed and the title switched into the small block at
the top left corner in 1942, allowing more free
space for the artwork.
November | December 2019
35