Norman Rockwell.... (1 Viewer)

[Diddles]

...makes me want to puke.

My GP must have been given a job lot of prints or found some in a skip (there's no chance of him ever BUYING anything for the place) and they're all over the surgery.

I found them really repulsive looking. Made the two hours waiting time even harder to endure than usual.

You'se all love him I bet.

 

[Franco]

All I pretty much know about Norman Rockwell is this anecdote that Jerry Seinfeld tells, which you might appreciate.

It’s the dead of winter. The members of the Glenn Miller Orchestra are headed for a gig when their bus breaks down. The musicians grab their instruments and, with no other option, begin slogging through the snow. Eventually, they come across a cozy little home. Gazing inside, they watch a family gathered around the dinner table, talking, laughing, reveling in the warmth of each other’s company. Damp and shivering, they stare a little longer at this Norman Rockwell painting come to life, complete with apple-cheeked children, before one turns to the other and says: "How do people live like that?"

 

[pete]

he was of his time

fairly fucking prolific though

 

[shower another shower]

LIFE wouldn't of been the same without him.

 

[therealjohnny]

I would LOVE to be able to draw like Norman Rockwell

 

[Jill Hives]

I would LOVE to be able to draw like Norman Rockwell

Ditto.

 

[Goodbye]

I have some old issues of the Saturday Evening Post.
Fascinating stuff.
I love his covers.

 

[Goff]

As Pete says, he was of his time. But I personally think he's great. The subject matter can be a little pukey alright but hey, it sold and still sells.

Some of my "paintings" of late are a little Norman Rockwell-esque. Obviously nowhere near as good, but there's a hint of it in there somewhere.

So, I suppose I like the look but not the feel, if that makes sense.

Rockwell, well, rocks.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

You have a stone heart Diddles, a stone heart.

 

[therealjohnny]

To not like Norman Rockwell is un-American

Comrade Diddleski

 

[Scientician 0.8]

 

[Diddles]

Now that's art!

 

[Goodbye]

Doesn't he work in Spar?

 

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

is this Berry Gordy's son?

 

[jane]

His son Peter is an artist as well, and has been in Rome for like the last 45 years.

http://www.geoffreyrockwell.com/PRportfolio/portfolio_home.html

His stuff is a bit different from his da's, and a bunch of his rather surreal, kind of dark sculptures are in the garden outside of St Pauls Within The Walls, the Episcopal church in Rome. He's pals with the rector of the church, and a lovely fellow. I only met him the once, but it was kind of funny because we had a conversation about being expats. Someone asked me if I felt 'Irish', and I said that sometimes I feel like the longer I'm in Ireland, the more foreign I feel, and he said he's kind of gone through the same process over the last 40-something years. I just thought it was interesting to have a conversation like that with someone whose dad pretty much invented 20th-century Americana. And who has not lived in that America since the early 60s.

I like this one:

http://www.geoffreyrockwell.com/PRportfolio/Peter-Pages/Image17.html

 

[Scientician 0.8]

I love Thomas Kincaid's work.

 

[Monkey]

According to Davis Byrne's blog his son Jarvis is an artist who creates scenes using action figures and other toys - apparantly he was obsessed with collecting these as a child but always wanted multiples of the same figure to create crowds. Here are some ewoks at a conference.

Here is a story about Norman Rockwell from the same blogpost:

In one, his dad visits him in NYC. Jarvis goes to his father’s hotel room to find him sitting on the bed with a postcard of a de Kooning and one of a Piero della Francesca on the pillow. And he's looking at them: "I don't know," he said. "I just can't . . . I just don't understand."

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2008/01/01272008-mass-m.html

 

[therealjohnny]

dum dee dum

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[7 - No tomorrow]

I happened to stop into the diner in Lee, MA (Joe's Diner, what else?) where this was painted unaware at the time that it was Rockwell country.

They have a picture next to it of the three principals many years later doing a recreation which kind of continues the theme. They were all still locals and apart from me and my companion I got the impression everyone else in there knew each other. And the owner (the son of the guy behind the counter) was very happy to tell tales of old Norman as he served the eggs.
I know a lot of people say Rockwell's world never existed, and they're probably right, but there's a lot of people out at the end of the Mass Turnpike that think they did, and good luck to 'em.