Showing posts with label Norman Rockwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norman Rockwell. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
2nd Saturday Evening Post cover- 6/13/1913
Circus Strong Man
Norman Rockwells second Saturday Evening Post cover appeared just 2 weeks after his first. He had sold both the first and second cover to the Post for $75.00 each, which was a huge amount of money in that time. Before working with The Saturday Evening Post, Rockwells monthly wages as "art director" and illustrator for Boys' Life magazine was $50.00 per month. In this picture Norman Rockwell manages to make the view feel as though they are part of the "scene", as if they were a participant, and not merely an observer.
Eugene Sandow, the "Strong Man", was a German turn of the century, physical culturist who appeared at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Billy Paine, the boy who poses for Sandow, was one of Rockwell's favorites. Billy Paine died at age 13 from doing a stunt in a second story window. Norman Rockwell used him in 15 Post covers and said "He was the best kid model I ever used".
The use of live models was difficult, especially in children and animals. Holding a pose was difficult enough, but trying to keep an expression was near impossible. Norman Rockwell sometimes resorted to giving feline models a smell of ether to create the appearence of an enduring lethargy.
May 20, 1916- Rockwells First Saturday Evening Post Cover
"The Baby Carriage"
Norman Rockwell's first Saturday Evening Post cover was different from that of other Post artists. For example, Rockwell used real people as models, he did not just concoct a "situation". Rockwell took much of what he learned from his beloved teacher George Bridgman from the Art Students League. Bridgman wrote a book titled "The Human Machine" which was an illustrated treatise on the musles and motions of the body. Norman Rockwell poured over this book in order to understand the the motor cause and effect. You can notice in this cover that the figures move naturally. The baby-sitter pushes against the carriage with proper displacement. All the boys "fit" into the composition without appearing to be "squeezed" in, and Rockwell is pictorially aware of the post requirements of its logo, parallel bars and bottom cover lines.
The Post was done in duotone, only in two colors, red and black until 1926, which is when Rockwell painted the first color cover. Duotone challenged the artists to capture the magazine buyers eye with red to black, and then lead the eye through graduations of emotion and tone, which was in fact restricted by using just the two colors. In this cover the overstating of facial expressions display a sense of humor based on convincing emotions which is more than American magazines has yet witnessed.
Norman Rockwell and The Four Freedoms
The History Behind Norman Rockwell and the Four Freedoms
On January 6th, 1941, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed his State of the Union Address to Congress, he described his vision for a better way of life through what he considered the four essential human freedoms: Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want and Freedom of Speech.
In the future days which we seek to make secure, we lookforward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.The first is freedom of speech and expression-- everywhere in the world.The second is freedom of every person to worship God in hisown way -- everywhere in the world.The third is freedom from want, which, translated into worldterms, means economic understandings which will secure toevery nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-- everywhere in the world.The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated intoworld terms, means a world-wide reduction of armamentsto such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nationwill be in a position to commit an act of physical aggressionagainst any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definitebasis for a kind of world attainable in our own time andgeneration. That kind of world is the very antithesis ofthe so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictatorsseek to create with the crash of a bomb.- Franklin Delano Roosevelt,excerpted from the Annual Message to the Congress,January 6, 1941
Almost two years later, with the United States in the throes of World War II, Norman Rockwell painted a series of paintings called the Four Freedoms in an effort to reinforce their importance, while at the same time, simplifying their complexity. After four months, when he was finished, the United States government used them quite successfully to enhance family values, unity, and patriotism, at a time when it was most needed.
On January 6th, 1941, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed his State of the Union Address to Congress, he described his vision for a better way of life through what he considered the four essential human freedoms: Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want and Freedom of Speech.
In the future days which we seek to make secure, we lookforward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.The first is freedom of speech and expression-- everywhere in the world.The second is freedom of every person to worship God in hisown way -- everywhere in the world.The third is freedom from want, which, translated into worldterms, means economic understandings which will secure toevery nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-- everywhere in the world.The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated intoworld terms, means a world-wide reduction of armamentsto such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nationwill be in a position to commit an act of physical aggressionagainst any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definitebasis for a kind of world attainable in our own time andgeneration. That kind of world is the very antithesis ofthe so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictatorsseek to create with the crash of a bomb.- Franklin Delano Roosevelt,excerpted from the Annual Message to the Congress,January 6, 1941
Almost two years later, with the United States in the throes of World War II, Norman Rockwell painted a series of paintings called the Four Freedoms in an effort to reinforce their importance, while at the same time, simplifying their complexity. After four months, when he was finished, the United States government used them quite successfully to enhance family values, unity, and patriotism, at a time when it was most needed.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
About us
We are your source for Norman Rockwell Art, Prints, Figurines, Collector Plates, Boy Scout Art, Saturday Evening Post Covers, Books and Gifts.
Our nationally recognized collection of Norman Rockwell's art, established in 1976, commemorates Norman Rockwell's Vermont years and the entire span and diversity of his career (1911-1978). Chronological display of more than 2,500 Norman Rockwell magazine covers, advertisements, calendars, and other published works shows Rockwell's development as an illustrator and links his work to the political, economic, and cultural history of the United States.
Americans first knew and loved Norman Rockwell’s art as it appeared on and between the covers of America’s most popular magazines. These magazine covers, advertisements, and illustrations are at the heart of our collection.
The Saturday Evening Post covers which most people are familiar with represent a fraction of Rockwell’s art. He also painted covers for such forgotten magazines as Judge, Leslie’s, The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, and a host of others.
We look forward to connecting with fellow Rockwell lovers and sharing some of our knowlege and history with others!
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