Norman Rockwell: Preliminary study for Freedom of Speech – 1942
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Wednesday Open Thread
Norman Rockwell: Preliminary study for Freedom of Speech – 1942 36 comments to Wednesday Open ThreadLeave a Reply |
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It was fashionable to denigrate Rockwell for many years, but look at the composition of that painting. Equal to anything from the Renaissance. Look at the technical mastery. A thousand years from now, if our civilization lasts, scholars will be writing tomes about this stuff.
Well, he’s no Mondrian, that’s for sure. I don’t know enough about art to understand why he’s called an illustrator rather than an artist. Could it be because his paintings are about something?
I think because they usually accompanied writing — Saturday Evening Post, et al.
I think it’s obvious — self-evident even — that that guy is about to saying something racist.
I don’t know much about it, Floyd. Did the covers illustrate particular articles in the Post, or is it just the fact that they were painted for magazine covers that diminishes his reputation?
There’s no union job title or anything…. all illustrators are artists, but not all artists are illustrators. He was both as I recall…. he painted stand alone works, but did a lot of magazine stuff too.
Well then put me down as a fan of illustrators. I like to know what I’m looking at.
Having been a freelance illustrator for years, you’ll either see us called illustrators or graphic artists. At the art school I went to you had the fine artists, the illustrators, and the designers and they pretty much all stuck to their own kind. The fine arts folks were snobs and the designers thought that they were smarter than everyone else, and they both looked down on the illustrators. The illustrators were more down to Earth because we knew that we could do the jobs of both the fine artists and designers, so there was no need for the professional jealousy.
Matt, do you have experience in comics?
David, I do have comics experience. Indie stuff for a small unknown publisher and an unknown title.
Shoot, you’re right! Look at all those angry white folks.
The Post covers were generally self-contained. They were meant to be little essays all by themselves. Sometimes a joke, sometimes a meditation.
And yes, I’m old enough to remember the tail end of the Saturday Evening Post’s glory days.
When they went to photographic covers that did illustrate stories inside the magazine, it was the beginning of the end for them.
Agree, Lars. Similarly, I’ve read that there’s a thread of critical opinion that denigrates Tchaikovsky because he’s too glib, too tuneful, too polished with his orchestrations, in short, too crowd-pleasing. The difference there, however, is that there’s an equally large if not larger segment of gatekeeping authority that credits Tchaikovsky for the genius that lies beneath his surface beauty. Would that such good sense still existed in the arts today.
I always thought there was a lot of similarity between Rockwell, NC Wyeth and Howard Pyle, fellow artists who were primarily known as for-hire illustrators. Their palettes, compositional styles, and love for the faces of humanity all connect together for me (and, for that matter, put me in mind of Thomas Eakins).
I never saw this “preliminary study” before. I can see why Rockwell went with his eventual final version–the upwards POV gives the speaker more heroism, plus the ability of the reader to see some of the text on the handouts makes it easier to understand that this is a townhall meeting related to municipal budgets and taxes.
Still, there’s an awful lot to like even more in this preliminary study. Personally, I like the angle better; it’s as if we’re watching from the podium where the town fathers are sitting. I like how his face is dirty, too, like he hasn’t had time to wash up before coming to this meeting. I also like the look on folks’ faces better; even when they’re not looking directly at him, you can tell that everybody is listening very carefully, even fat old Mr. Potter in the blue tie, sitting behind him. Plus, the variety of clothing in the shot makes it clear how egalitarian this meeting is. Plus, I love ol’ Doc Mitchell sitting to the man’s left. You can tell he always knew the guy had a head on his shoulders, and has been needling him, maybe for months now, to speak up when you don’t like how things are going. And now he finally is doing it, and the Doc is enjoying how everybody is attentive and maybe even a little shocked at the common sense coming out of this guy’s mouth. Suck it, old man Potter.
Finally, look at the guy’s wife sitting on his right. His own Nancy Reagan. Look at her eyes. She’s always loved him. But at this moment, at this very moment, he’s looking like some kind of a god to her. Her husband.
Awesome. Can you believe, I’m a little choked up writing this.
I had to examine every face there, too. The wife is proud of him, but nervous, too.
I think Howard Pyle illustrated one of my favorite books when I was a kid. I think it was called Men of Iron, about knights and castles and whatnot. And did Wyeth do Robin Hood drawings? I used to devour those books, but can’t remember authors, never mind illustrators, from thirty years ago.
Of course she’s nervous, Mike. Wouldn’t you be nervous, if your husband Joe, who is a plumber, was trying to speak truth to power?
That’s exactly who Howard Pyle and NC Wyeth were. My favorite Wyeth stuff was for Treasure Island. Both those guys used to live in Chadds Ford, PA, where I grew up. The Wyeth Museum is across the road from the elementary school I went to. That’s a fantastic museum, by the way, with tons of the original paintings those guys did to illustrate those Scribners-published classics. Takes you about thirty minutes to get there from Philly.
I just thought to look it up, and it turns out that not only did Howard Pyle illustrate “Men of Iron,” but he wrote it, too.
And here’s an interesting quote (from Wikipedia, for what it’s worth):
His contemporary, Vincent van Gogh spoke of Pyle in a letter to his brother, saying that Pyle’s work “…struck me dumb with admiration”.
You give a very interesting interpretation to the painting, but you are reading a lot into it. There is no indication at all of any relationship between the man and the woman. The documents read only “…NUAL REPORT of the TOWN of …ERMONT.” It is fair to say that they’re talking about budgets, but taxation? The guy could be making a speech for government spending health care for “the little guy” for all we know. As far as “Mr. Potter” and “Doc Mitchell,” those details make for your telling of an interesting story, but their not in the painting.
Let’s pretend that he’s making a pitch for more government spending. Is Mr. Blue Tie the evil Mr. Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life” or is he the guy knows this will kill jobs in town? And is “Doc Mitchell” looking up in pride or is he an octogenarian living on a fixed income who thinks the government has a duty to take care of him in his old age and they better listen to this young whipper-snapper?
You have a wonderful imagination, justjack, and what you see in “Freedom of Speech” is very interesting. It tells me much about you, but not much about the painting. Then again, maybe that’s what great art is supposed to do, help us bring out something within us for further exploration.
Just noticed this thread was started by Rufus. Is this a power grab?
I liken it to Madison following Jefferson as President.
All your base are belong to us.
“I liken it to Madison following Jefferson as President.”
Why? Is Rufus really short?
The Robin Hood drawings were Howard Pyle. Also a fine, fine artist who worked on commission. Like those other hacks, Michelangelo and Leonardo.
If you can ever find a copy, see the TNT production of “Treasure Island,” starring Charlton Heston and (a very young) Christian Bale, from years back. The best version of TI ever, and they consciously worked to make it look the Wyeth illustrations. An unappreciated masterpiece.
Thank you, Lars and justjack. I’d forgotten the Treasure Island illustrations. They brought the story to life for me.
Wyeth also did a great version of Robin Hood.
Art is Art. Whatever the artist was trying to get across, whether he succeded or not, personal appreciation ultimately comes down to the taste of the viewer or listener. I like Norman Rockwell fine. I also like Fred Freeman. I’m not all about the realism, I tend towards impressionists and surrealists, and space art like Ron Miller and Chesley Bonestel (Who worked with Freeman on occasion), but I like it fine. He was exceptionally good at what he did.
I tend to denigrate Tachikovsky because he buggered little boys (According to some stories, anyway, they may not be true), but I’ve always found his music brilliant. I also like Strauss quite a bit. Again: people tend to slam him as being generic, vapid, meaningless, not challenging, but come on – it was dance music! We’re still playing it more than a century later, becuase it’s uncommonly GOOD dance music. Yeah, it’s not Beethoven, but I try not to discriminate.
Rockwell was an FDR devotee and was literally illustrating one of FDR’s speeches. This study went along with Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Worship, and Freedom from Want.
It is interesting, that in the final Freedom of Speech painting the woman to the man’s right all but disappears.
These are great paintings that Lars is correct to note should be studied long after any
drip clothpainting by Pollock. I just wonder about the relationship it establishes between government and the individual. Two paintings are clearly the realm of government to protect, in the negative sense of creating no law – Speech & Worship. Establishing Fear & Want as things the government works to keep us free from is problematic, treats the American people like children, and led us to where we are today.I just noticed this today – looking at the Freedom from Fear painting, linked above. The visible portion of the newspaper the man is holding reads “BOMBINGS” & “HORROR.” Interesting.
That’s a good point, Daniel. It’s all based on FDR’s principles, and he wasn’t exactly a member of the Cato Institute. I was commenting on the art alone, of course.
Thanks for the interpretation, justjack! I like to think your take is the right take.
Being an old fart, I remember Norman Rockwell’s body of work quite well. He almost always painted scenes of things near and dear to the hearts of all Americans. In the case of this painting, I wouldn’t want to read too much into it, other than he was a man standing up and speaking for what he believed in.
We need to remember that there was a time in our country when the Dems. were not so verbally abusive. There were more civilized discussions of everything political in those days. This is not to say that heated arguments did not happen. It does mean that most were conducted in a more gentlemanly manner, however. This painting could cover anything from a city council meeting on taxation, to water concerns, to even the upcoming Scopes monkey trial.
Re: Scopes Monkey Trial was earlier, but you get my intent, hopefully.
Was going through my email, ran into a message from a local Glenn Beck 9.12 MeetUp and saw this:
http://www.randpaul2010.com/
My immediate reaction was they’ve created an Ayn Rand / Ron Paul beast.
I followed the link to Dr. Rand Paul’s website for his 2010 campaign to be Kentucky’s next Senator. Browsing some of the positions, specifically National Defense & the Fed, I wonder how far off the mark my initial reaction was.
Not to interrupted daniel’s conversation, but I wanted to pass along this link.
Mr. whittle does it again. Finally! An articulate voice for the Right! We need more of him.
http://www.pjtv.com/v/2235
Pardon my interruption. Carry on!
Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Sideous. Whittle is awesome. That’s a very interesting piece. I’m going to have to think about the end a bit more before I wage judgement.
I wonder where we would be without the internet? Folks who share Bill’s views are obviously much more abundant than anyone in the MSM seems to comprehend. The rest of us would all still be little islands, wondering if we were the only sane ones left, or if we were insane, but thanks to the Internet we know we are right. We might even be the majority. Somebody in the MSM who wants to make some money has to figure this out soon, don’t they?
At Commentarama, Andrew had a post about how the country is nore conservative than is generally believed.
The accompanying graph is very interesting. (All data from Rasmussen and/or Gallup.)
One of my favorite pieces of data:
Over 55% of liberals are unwilling to spend even $100 more in either utility costs or taxes in order to combat global warming.
I have a question: Anyone remember the episode where the word Craptacular was used in South Park? I know it was used in the Simpsons but I swear I also heard it on South Park. First time I ever heard it was South Park….anyone have any clues? I cant find the quote.
The painting was based, according to one website, on an incident where a man was at a town hall meeting and spoke his opinion, which was unpopular. But, instead of running him out of town with pitchforks like a lot of Berkley professors seem to think they would do, the others at the Town Hall, while they disagreed with him, thanked him for speaking his mind, however unpopular it was.
The freedom of speech is not a man speaking truth to power or sticking it to The Man, but that everyone is allowed to speak his opinion, no matter how unpopular, without fear of oppression or violence.
The man speaking is saying something unpopular, but because this is a democracy, he is stating it without fear of oppression.
So far!