Sunday with Norman Rockwell and his art

Doesn't Sunday seem like the perfect day to visit Norman Rockwell?

When I think of Norman Rockwell I think of a kinder, gentler, time in America: Sunday dinners, Christmas mornings, family reunions.

I also think of the kitschy side of Norman Rockwell: the collector's plates, Christmas ornaments, etc.

So when we decided to go through Stockbridge, Massachusetts earlier this week, we decided it would be a good idea to visit the Norman Rockwell museum.

I am glad we did, as I realized that I did not know the real Norman Rockwell at all.

The size of the museum is perfect - the collection is good-sized, there are always two or three other interesting exhibits in-house, and is easily do-able in a couple of hours.  Some museums are so large that they overwhelm me and I have to take them in only small portions (The Met or The Louvre for example), others are much more manageable - like the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, and are like little jewel boxes to be savoured and enjoyed.

If you take the headphones for the audio tour, you are going to learn some interesting things about Norman Rockwell's work.  For example, there was always something cheeky or "off" in his paintings, despite their overall sense of being sweet or sentimental.

Source

It is hard to see in the picture above, but in this fellow's arms, he has a copy of the museum guidebook which shows the original, more staid painting.  Our hero is very interested in other parts of the painting (perhaps the technical aspect of the brushwork?) and the subject is suddenly quite flirty with him!

Source

Likewise, in the painting above, you see that the self-portrait that Rockwell is painting is a slightly idealized version of what he is actually looking at in the mirror.

What I did not know before I visited the museum was that Rockwell was a real social activist in his life, pushing America to its higher self through his illustrations.  In the 1960s when America was being torn apart by the civil rights movement, he waded in, depicting the victims of hatred as real, noble individuals, not different at all from the other "white" people that Rockwell had depicted on his covers of the Saturday Evening Post and Look magazines.

Source

Source

The Museum takes a lot of time to show this work, since so much of America is more familiar with the more sentimental of Rockwell's works such as Christmas Homecoming.

The subject in this painting is the artist's oldest son, Jarvis Rockwell, who just happened to have an exhibit at the museum and was actually there working on the day we visited.

This was a fascinating exhibit.  Jarvis has taken action figures and toys from the last 30 years and used them in large three dimensional collages that speak to the story of culture and our children's lives and what we deem important and imaginative.  The highlight is a massive Mayan temple-like structure that is covered in hundred of these figures.  I got a chance to chat with Mr. Rockwell while he worked and we talked a lot about his use of these objects and it was really fascinating.  Well worth a visit - he had a similar exhibit at the MOMA a few years ago which was quite popular.  There was also a small exhibit of his older works from the 60s, 70s and 80s and it was interesting to see his art evolve.  There was one of those ugly tourist moments while I was chatting with him, as a loud blonde woman rushed in and said "JARVIS!  HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE GROWN UP WITH SUCH A FAMOUS FATHER?!!!"  I could see this talented artist wince - he is an old man now himself and has likely had this question asked of him every day of his life - and he just shrugged and said "it was complicated."  At which point she replied "MY LIFE TOO, JARVIS.  NOW I AM GOING TO SEE THE SNOW WHITE EXHIBIT."  And then she was gone.  And Jarvis and I went back to talking softly about his art.

Near the museum you can see Rockwell's studio, which was moved to the museum grounds after Rockwell's death:

The sculpture in the garden is by another of his sons, Peter Rockwell.

Inside the studio they have chosen to show what it looked like during an active period of Rockwell's life, in this case, 1960.

I highly recommend a visit to this museum if you are in the Berkshires.  I felt at the end of the visit that I better understood Rockwell the man and Rockwell the artist.  What more could you want from a museum than that?

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!  I will be staking some plants today; we had a very violent storm here around 6:30 last evening - I have never experienced ANYTHING like it and apparently, there is evidence of a tornado about 30 KM away.  Not good, but thankfully no damage here.  Stay Safe out there!