November 7, 2009 through May 31, 2010
Photography has been a benevolent tool for artists from Thomas Eakins and Edgar Degas to David Hockney. And to illustrators, always on the lookout for better ways to meet deadlines, the camera has long been a natural ally. But the thousands of photographs Norman Rockwell created as studies for his iconic images are a case apart. A natural storyteller, Rockwell envisioned his narrative scenarios down to the smallest detail. Yet at the easel he was an absolute literalist who rarely painted directly from his imagination.
Instead, he first brought his ideas to life in studio sessions, staging photographs that are fully realized works of art in their own right. Selecting props and locations, choosing and directing his models, he carefully orchestrated each element of his design for the camera before beginning to paint. Meticulously composed and richly detailed, Norman Rockwell’s study photographs mirror his masterworks in a tangible parallel universe. Photography opened a door to the keenly observed authenticity that defines Norman Rockwell’s art. And for us today it is a revelation to discover that so many of his most memorable characters were, in fact, real people.
Curator and author Ron Schick has undertaken a frame-by-frame study of the Norman Rockwell Museum’s newly digitized photography archive, made possible by a Save America’s Treasures project that has preserved a Rockwell archive of almost 20,000 negatives and made accessible the full range of the artist’s reference photography. Mr. Schick’s companion book Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera is available through Little, Brown and Company.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by nyip, Danielle Valiquette . Danielle Valiquette said: RT @nyip: Good morning! To start your day, Norman Rockwell: Behind the #camera: http://bit.ly/20LUwf [...]
[...] Influence of Rockwell’s realistic art of storytelling can be seen in movies like Forrest Gump, American Gangster, Empire of the Sun etc. Current exhibitions hosting his artwork http://www.nrm.org/2009/10/norman-rockwell-museum-opens-landmark-exhibition-exploring-a-new-body-of-rockwell-imagery/ [...]
[...] print maker, stage designer, photographer and most influential British artist, David Hockney persistently explored British Pop Art, Expressionism, Cubism. The late 60s and early 70s [...]
[...] has been a great deal of interest in the recent exhibition and book “Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera,” which explores Rockwell’s use of reference photography. NPR radio story [...]
[...] has been a great deal of interest in the recent exhibition and book “Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera,” which explores Rockwell’s use of reference photography. NPR radio story [...]
[...] photos “Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera” by Ron Schick, was recently published and a companion exhibition is currently on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA that will be up through [...]
[...] Rockwell created thousands of photographic studies to prepare for his [...]
[...] these photos “Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera” by Ron Schick, was recently published. A companion exhibition is currently on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA and will be up through May [...]
[...] picking up the brush, Norman Rockwell spent a great deal of time directing and composing photographs that he would use to create his iconic (and oft-derided) [...]
[...] use of photographs in his illustrative process. There’s also a companion exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, [...]