Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell

The work of Norman Rockwell has captured the life and heart of the American common man. His paintings have been displayed across the country in museums, art shows, magazines, and most importantly individual homes. As an illustrator, he worked with mediums such as oil paint, charcoal, crayon and even pencil at times for the Saturday Evening Post covers, portraits, and murals. From Rockwell's most famous pieces, like The Four Freedoms, to what some would prescribe as his most insignificant work, Rockwell's artistic skill is legendary to American Art.

Even as an artist, Norman Rockwell considered his own technique and abilities common, even telling a reporter that, ““ The way I paint is technically terrible, piling on paint on varnish and varnish on paint, coat after coat, without adequate time for drying. John Atherton says that its a wonder my paintings don’t explode. Perhaps someday they will! I certainly wouldn’t want to guarantee their durability. But I’m inclined to agree with Richard Miller who didn’t consider permanency to important. 'Let the next generation paint its own pictures' was the substance of his comment...”. However, despite his own modesty, Rockwell did vary the way he painted in his illustrations. For example, in almost each piece he used a mix between opaque and glazing techniques. Opaque is solid color with no addition to the paint from the tube besides what iscompletely necessary,. Glazing is when the artists dials the color down with other medium, adding “richness, depth, and color,” (156). Usually he would use opaque technique for the heads and hands of people in his drawings and the glazing for the remainder of the painting to keep it interesting to the eye. For each individual piece of work, he generally used the same colors in the same order across the palette. Some of the colors most seen were ivory black, ultramarine, cadmium yellow, Venetian red, and burnt sienna, although there are many more. For mediums Rockwell used mostly rectified turpentine, and Grumbachers Oil Medium No. 2, and he used just a palette to mix his colors and diaper cloths for paint rags. Furthermore, in order to finish his artwork Rockwell blocked out time and set deadlines for himself, which he said was a reason why he was successful at all. Everything about his technique was ordinary, and perhaps that’s part of the reason why his illustrations are so relatable and lovable.

Over his time as an adult artist, Norman Rockwell made 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post, and many of such illustrations are sold today as individualized pictures in frames to adorn classrooms and homes alike. One of his most famous covers, entitled “First Love” was published April 24, 1926. Using his classic warm colors, the illustration looks somewhat simple at first glance, and though the subject is, in fact, quite simple, there is significant detail in the clothing of the boy and girl, such as the creases in the boys shirt and the girls dress, and the amount of shading that he put in to give a realistic touch to what could seem like a cartoon-y depiction of young romance.

Another famous cover is “Rosie the Riveter”, which was printed in 1943. Again, the classic blues and reds were used. Except in this one the symbolism that was seen in

other illustrations can be seen. Red, white, and blue are the only main colors in this picture, an obvious reference to the United States of America. Also, his political side shows through this cover, as it is a depiction of a woman in the work place, which was a result of the war and a new phenomenon at the time. As in “Rosie the Riveter” and “First Love”, Rockwell’s illustrations gave a sense of home and the ordinary joys of everyday life.

Finally, perhaps Rockwell’s famous set of illustrations was “The Four Freedoms”: Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. Unlike some of Rockwell’s other pieces, each one of the four freedoms has a full background, no white space with no subject, like the outside of “First Love”. In “Freedom of Speech” Rockwell’s subject is a man standing in the center, and the eye of the viewer automatically goes to him because all the other people in the room are seated and looking up at him. Blacks, browns, and blues are the main hues of the picture. “Freedom to Worship” is full of the faces of people praying, but the viewer’s eye in this automatically goes to the woman with the grey hair because unlike the others around her, her chin is down and her hands folded in prayer touching her face. Furthermore, she has darker colors in her wrinkles and hair which make her stand out, yet the light reflects on her forehead to separate her from the man behind her. “Freedom from Want” has a lighter palette than most of Rockwell’s work, including mostly whites and blues, with black and tans in the people around the table. Your eye goes right to the turkey, and again this is because all the eyes are looking at it, which emphasizes the point of the title. “Freedom from Fear” has a mixture of the whites, blues, and blacks, and again the eyes of the

subjects in the picture bring the eye of the onlooker to the children asleep in bed, the epitome of freedom from fear.

Norman Rockwell is still considered one of America’s favorite artists because of his simple and “common man” attitude and reflections. His technique wasn’t out of the ordinary, but each piece was detailed in love making it seem as if it was. Rockwell is and always will be an American classic.