Norman Rockwell

The first photograph I am going to discuss is photo of Ellery Shufelt with his children in Albany County, New York. Arthur Rothstein took this photograph in 1937, which was when the Great Depression was taking place in the United States. This photograph depicts many of these formal elements and techniques such as, framing, lighting, composition, and space to help portray the true meaning of the image. Arthur Rothstein uses the technique known as composition, which can be defined as the organization of the photograph by inserting elements in particular places and sizes. This assumption can be made because Rothstein places the Ellery Shufelt and his children in specific areas of the photograph to help capture an emotion or option about how people live and work American society at this time. Also, the framing and position of the door and chair outlines the photograph asymmetrically for the viewer. The door offsets the image by dividing the image with a vertical line. This basically crops the photograph making the viewer focus on the father and his children rather than the background itself. In addition, the level the camera intensifies the feeling and framing by making you feel eye level with the subjects. The use of framing allowed the photograph to make you focus and control how you perceive the image.

In 1931, he used an earlier sketch of elevated tracks and skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan as the model for House and Street. Davis’ style suggests European influences, but his compositions are as distinctly American as jazz, with visual harmonies created from cacophonous patterns of bricks, checks, stripes, and polka dots. For Davis, words – from street signs to political advertisements – were an integral part of this chaotic, vibrant American landscape. The placard in House and Street that reads “SMITH” may allude to AL Smith’s failed 1928 presidential campaign, and “FRONT” is the name of a street. Yet “FRONT” could also describe the wall’s apparent position in “front” of the elevated tracks, or its flat, frontal orientation. Davis then set the right half of the composition at an angle, as if he were painting a scene from two perspectives simultaneously.” (Frames of Reference: Looking at American Art, 1900-1950. By Whitney Museum of American Art, Beth Venn, Adam D. Weinberg, Kennedy

Rockwell’s ‘Rosie’, which appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in the 29th of May, 1943, was inspired by a real woman by the name of Mary Doyle. It shows a muscular feminine figure in front of an American flag, on her lunch break, sitting on a stump, riveter gun on her lap, factory goggles pushed up on her forehead and wearing dirty overalls. She looks confident, strong and comfortable in this environment, doing this job freely and willingly to support the US war effort. The illustration resembles a Michelangelo’s painting from

Norman Rockwell, a 20th century painter was born in 1894. He depicted many scenes of American culture through his perspective until his death in 1978. I chose to do my looking assignment on his oil and graphite on canvas and wood “Framed”. I traveled to Roanoke to see this fine piece of art in the Tubman Art museum. When I first looked at this piece I was very drawn to the texture. By the looks of the picture I took, you cannot really tell that this piece is textured. This piece depicts a picture of a man who seems to be a museum worker holding a frame and essentially framing himself in it. In this piece you also see other pieces of art hanging on the wall around him giving him a wide variety of very expressive looks. You see in this painting that Rockwell used a picture inside of a picture to tell the story of the museum worker.

The primary focus of this exhibition is Archibald J. Motley Jr.’s Mending Socks, an oil painting created in 1924 currently located at the Ackland Art Museum. Depicting Motley’s grandmother across a 43.875 x 40 inches (111.4 x 101.6 cm) frame, Mending Socks exhibits a familiar setting complimented by bold colors. Such colors immediately draw the eye to the grandmother, then to the socks on her lap. One then looks to the table, to the fruit overflowing from the bowl, eventually falling on the background. Trailing along, Motley’s grandmother is the off-center grounding of the piece, proving a strong, soothing, and familiar image of relaxed family settings. Behind her, however, are subtle reminders of white power.

She was a product of an alliance between executives of advertising agencies and the government’s War Advertising Council. The advertising agencies lost many accounts when clients switched from consumer goods to war production, so it was to the companies’ advantage to cooperate with the government. Rosie, as depicted by artist Norman Rockwell, made her debut on the cover of the May 29, 1943 edition of the Saturday Evening Post (Risjord). Rockwell painted Rosie in denim overalls relaxing on a stool and eating a sandwich, apparently on her lunch break. She wears goggles on her forehead, holds a riveter in her lap, and rests her feet triumphantly on a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The American flag flies in the background as a symbol of her patriotism. She has muscular arms, yet remains feminine with a powder puff in her front pocket and a hint of lipstick. Rosie embodies strength, determination, confidence, and beauty. This image promised women everywhere that they too could serve their country with an enjoyable job and bring home a paycheck without sacrificing their

Good Evening my fellow neighbors. Most of you know me and for the ones who do not, I am Mabel Dodge. I am the daughter from a family in Buffalo and had what was considered the best education for girls in the nineteenth- century. Instead of going to college, I got married, became a mother and soon, a widow. Later, I traveled abroad and soon married a Boston architect, Edwin Dodge who I later realized the passion I had was no more- so I divorced him. I became bored and began to crave art, the beauty and inspiration! A “salon” in Florence, Italy that I created for the purpose of attracting the most up- and- coming artists in Europe, had me become well known and even a muse for one of Gertrude Stein’s image poems. I reluctantly joined Edwin my husband at the time, who was eager to come back to the United States. I settled in an apartment on the lower Fifth Avenue which most of you have been in for my “evenings” of controversial debates.

The painting, House by the Railroad, by Edward Hopper was completed in 1925. The house he painted was in the style of a Victorian house. The house was built next to railroad tracks. He painted House by the Railroad with oil based paint on a canvas. The artwork is a twenty-four by twenty-nine inches in a frame. When I look at this painting, the first thing I think of is where is it located? It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere but then again it looks like it is in a town because of the railroad tracks. The house is built next to the railroad tracks but there are no trees. The house contains several windows which I think would be neat. In this painting, he uses vertical and horizontal lines. He used vertical lines for the columns of the house and parts of the house. He also uses horizontal lines for parts of the house and the railroad tracks. Many of the lines Edward Hopper painted were medium size. The painting is painted with several figures lined up. If you look at the front of the house, you can tell that it is square on top of another square. The one on the bottom left is also a square but it is bigger. The picture and the lines are very soft. The lines in the picture never seem to overlap each other. The way the sun is in the picture makes it look absolutely beautiful. The sun could be either rising or setting by the look of the artwork. House by the Railroad was painted in the United States. Edward Hopper painted this picture after he came back

Vincent van Gogh is one of the world’s most well-known artists. He was the son of a pastor and was brought up in a religious atmosphere. He thought his true calling was to preach the gospel like his father. He became a preacher in a small coal mining town. This is when he starting becoming very interested in the people and things that surrounded him. He became an artist at the age of 27.

When the narrator first invites Rockwell to his studio to examine his paintings, Rockwell’s unconventionality is illustrated through his dissimilar beliefs and values from the narrator. The narrator’s exceptionally well-organized, detailed personality is illustrated when he “poured three fingers in the glass, handed it to Rockwell, and another three fingers for [himself].” This action indicates his seemingly calm behaviour and efficient, conventional lifestyle that he currently maintains in order to forget about his past. His supposedly calm, composed behaviour is also demonstrated through his actions of painting where he would “leave [the paintings] like this for the month or so preceding a show” so that he could later on add other details later on. The narrator’s calm, well-organized behaviour illustrates the façade he puts on in order to assimilate into reality. However, even though the narrator appears to accept the reality he is currently living, he actually lives in an ulterior universe where he constantly indulges into his own paintings in order to maintain his despairing, unfortunate past.

Ever wonder what opposition to cultural trends can lead someone? Ever question what kind of success can erupt from dislocating and distorting one’s work into a brand unique to no one but yourself? Pablo Picasso and Zaha Hadid were two of the most successful artists within the modernist movement. Both Picasso and Hadid laid the foundation to their success with a strong educational background. While each artist knew that their sheer talent and works would not contribute to their succession alone. Picasso and Hadid sought the importance of defining one’s brand on a global scale. Building a connection between a consumer and their product, both Picasso and Hadid knew that their talent and business practices would allow them to convey

“The Nighthawks”, by Edward Hopper is a unique form of art for the time period (1942) that it is based in because it is a very natural oil painting. Along with this piece of art, there is another significant oil painting done by the artist Edouard Manet called, “Corner Of A Cafe-Concert” (1880). These paintings both symbolize a restaurant setting during the time in which they were created but in doing this they have different structures based on what was happening around them during their time periods.

Norman Rockwell’s painting, A Young Lady with a Shiner, brings to life an imaginative and engaging scene. His illustration depicts a young girl who is battered and bruised, seated on a bench in a room adjoining the principal’s office; she is apparently waiting to be spoken too. Smiling broadly with a happy, toothless grin, she contrasts directly with the people in the office who can be seen through the partially opened door. The man and woman do not see any amusement in the actions this girl has been involved in, and the looks upon their faces convey this message clearly. Rockwell’s representation demonstrates evidence of a brawl, a glowing triumph radiating from the girl, and displeasure which is presented in the faces of a man and a woman.

The dominant figure that steered the course of the Abstract Expressionist movement was the infamous painter Jackson Pollock. He was born Paul Jackson Pollock in Cody, Wyoming on January 28, 1912. He was the fifth and youngest son and grew up in Arizona and California after his family left him when he was a little over one year old. Pollock's artistic journey began at the Manual Arts School in Los Angeles, California where he joined two of his brothers. From there, he went on to New York to attend the Art Students' League after being convinced by one of his brothers whom also attended the school.

One of his jobs was to design the weather map for NBC’s morning news. In 1952 Warhol held his first exhibit, it was not a financial success, but it enhanced Warhol’s reputation as a commercial artist. But his spare time was now taken up with pop art, inspired by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, two young pop artist, Warhol had come across in 1958. He began to paint, draw and print everyday objects such as, dollar bills, soup cans, postage stamps, comic strips, and soda bottles. According to Warhol, these were some of the consumer products “on which America is built.”