I don't exactly remember when I was exposed to Norman Rockwell but I can remember seeing some of his images somewhere when I was a really little kid and liking them because I thought the people looked kinda funny. I had placed this artist somewhere in the back of my brain where everything I haven't seen for awhile tends to go until a couple years ago when I went in and got my first tattoo. While my eyes wondered and I tried to think of anything but the needle stabbing into my wrist I noticed a familiar illustration on the wall, it was "Tattoo Artist" by Norman Rockwell and it reminded me how much I enjoyed his work.
Here are a few of my favorites:
 |
| Tattoo Artist by Norman Rockwell |
 |
| Shiner by Norman Rockwell |
 |
| Boy and Girl gazing at the Moon by Norman Rockwell |
Norman Rockwell was born in New York in 1894. He was enrolled into art classes at The New York School of Art but left early to attend The National Academy of Design and then went on to The Art Students League. Rockwell was hired as art director of Boy's Life (The Boy Scouts of America's official publication) and then began his career as a freelance illustrator. During his career he worked for and created illustrations for a variety of magazines some of which included Life, Literary Digest, Country Gentleman, and 321 covers for The Saturday Evening Post. This artist also illustrated many books, and produced over 4,000 original works in his lifetime. Rockwell has his own museum, the Normal Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge and over the course of his life was very successful with his illustrations.
What does he do?
Norman Rockwell created paintings and illustrations that had a large appeal in the United States because most of them reflected American culture. He was known for the illustrations he did of everyday life for the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell started painting idealized life situations, however later in his career he began painting more serious subjects such as a series on racism. The artist had a very specific look to his figures that is still very recognizable and although they were a bit cartoony, his works still have a realistic feel because of his proportions, colors and the subjects of his works.
Why he inspires me?
The artist is inspiring to me because he used his artworks as a way to depict everyday life and some to try and change it. A lot of his works, specifically his later ones made the reader stop and think about real issues such as freedom, racism and equality. I hope that my works can also address issues and relate to viewers in the same way that Rockwell's illustrations did during his time.
More works are below and if you would like to see more feel free to go to: http://www.nrm.org/?gclid=CN-0ha2xxb4CFZSMMgodOCMACw
 |
| The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell |
 |
| Triple Self-Portrait by Norman Rockwell |
 |
| The Runaway by Norman Rockwell |
No comments:
Post a Comment