"The Marriage License," Norman Rockwell, 1955. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections. ©1955 SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

Recently, we enjoyed the pleasure of a visit from Dr. Susan Birns and the bright, inquisitive Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) students in her American Family class. The group joined Curator of Education Tom Daly, Dr. Birns, and I in conversation about the power of published art in mid twentieth century America, and the messages about established gender roles in family life as reflected in the illustration art of the era. After their visit, the class was presented with a print of Norman Rockwell’s 1955 Saturday Evening Post cover, Marriage License, as well as an assignment from Dr. Birns, who invited them to analyze the piece within the context of their studies. We appreciate the opportunity to showcase the astute observations of six of Dr. Birns students, including Marissa Mahoney, Stephanie Esposito, Amanda Burnham, Samantha Burke, and Julia Ashton, and we know you will enjoy them too.

“The Marriage License” painting by Norman Rockwell reflects many aspects of gender roles in family life. First of all, the person working at the marriage license office is a male. This is because women did not often work outside the home then; it was mostly men. Next, the body language between the couple shows that the man is in charge by how he is holding her and guiding her as she fills out the paperwork. Also, the woman is on her tippy toes while the man is shown as strong and tall. This shows that the woman is more vulnerable than the man. This picture shows many characteristics of how the males were in charge back then and took authority.

Commentary by Marissa Mahoney

“The Marriage License” depicts a couple – an older man and a younger woman – applying for their marriage license while the office’s clerk, an old man, waits for them to finish. A perfect depiction of gender roles in family life, the woman is standing on her tiptoes to fill out her portion of the form while her soon-to-be husband looks over her shoulder, probably waiting to correct any silly mistakes. He’s holding onto the paper with one hand, ready to retrieve the form as soon as she’s done. The fact that the desk is so tall she has to tiptoe to reach it implies that it is a desk meant to have men stand in front of it. The old man sitting behind the desk is just patiently waiting while they finish. If the woman were not already accompanied by a man, however, I think we’d see a different image – the clerk standing over the woman guiding her through this very complicated form.

Commentary by Stephanie Esposito

This painting is similar in nature to many of Rockwell’s paintings. It may not be obvious at first, but there are clearly defined gender roles represented, even in an everyday situation like this. It is subtle, but it is clear that in this situation, the man is leading in a way. He is watching over his wife to be as she signs their marriage license. She stands up on her toes to be able to sign the document as well, giving her the presence of a weaker individual compared to the man who is clearly quite tall. Her dress also reflects the times in a way. It is bright yellow, almost an indication of what she is expected to be – bright, cheerful, innocent. This is not to say that Rockwell looks down on women, rather it is the reflection of the ideas of society at that time through the medium of painting done by a good man.

Commentary by Kevin Shea

Rockwell loved to depict family life as happy and loving relationships. He wanted to show these relationships as they should be. In this painting he shows a man and his young wife applying for their marriage license. Although the gentleman is very attentive towards his bride, with his arm around her, we can still see that the young woman seems quite childlike. She stands on her tiptoes in her heels and pretty dress as her soon-to-be husband guides her. It seems like he is watching over her every move to make sure she is doing it right. Although Rockwell wanted to show this bond between a man and a woman as a good thing, we still see these strict gender roles that existed in the 20^th century.

Commentary by Amanda Burnham

In Norman Rockwell’s painting “The Marriage License,” his view of gender roles in family life is clear. I first notice the patriarchal role displayed. The husband-to-be has his arm over his fiancée. Not only that, his whole upper body is closed around her space. That tells me that he is showing protection for her, but also a power he believes he has over her. The wife-to-be is standing on her tippy toes to show that she is smaller than him, and so less powerful and in need of protection. The wife-to-be is also the one filling out the application while the husband watches intently over her shoulder. This shows that Rockwell does believe that women should have some superior role in a relationship as well. Even though her husband is watching, she is the one filling out a legal document, not her husband. Rockwell does show the women as more angelic and innocent as well because she is in shown in bright colors that are used to light up the room.

Commentary by Samantha Burke

Norman Rockwell painted what he wanted us to remember. So, his view of the 1950s was relatively cheery compared to how that time actually was. In this painting there is a woman very much serving her gender role. She is wearing heels and a dress as was expected at the time and she is very dainty. As she is signing the certificate she seems somewhat unaware of the harsh, strict role of a 1950s wife that she is about to enter into. The man, her future husband, is fulfilling his gender role in that he is tall, strong, and protectively wraps his arm around her, showing his position of power. It is evident that his family role will be one as the head of a patriarchal family. He supervises his fiancée filling out the form as he will supervise her actions critically in the future. This painting very much reflects Rockwell’s style. He portrays the stereotypes of family and gender at the time, but he does it in a way that reflects a cheery, happy time. He wants us to remember the good times, not the bad.

Commentary by Julia Ashton

What do you think about Rockwell’s work and the views reflected in these essays? Please do share your thought with us, we look forward to hearing from you!

"Rio" Art Director Tom Cardone at Blue Sky Studios. Photo by Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Recently, Curator of Archival Collections Corry Kanzenberg and I had the pleasure of spending the day with Thomas Cardone, the talented art director of the recently released animated blockbuster, Rio, which opened just last month to popular and critical acclaim. Seen here at the offices of Blue Sky Studios in Greenwich, Connecticut, Tom took some time out from his busy schedule to help us curate a selection of drawings that trace the development of the film’s main characters, from the heroic blue Macaw named Blu to Linda, his devoted caretaker.

With credits ranging from “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast” to “Ice Age: The Meltdown” and the current hit “Rio,” art director Thomas Cardone’s experience may seem high-tech, but he speaks passionately about craftsmanship, and is responsible, with the director, for the look and feel of the film in its entirety. Aside from his breathtaking work in digital animation, he also creates painterly works on canvas, the old fashioned way. We were thrilled to have his involvement and guidance in developing this exciting exhibition, and hope to see you all here to enjoy the artistry of Blue Sky Studios at the Norman Rockwell Museum this summer.

We hope that you’ll join us for these upcoming art workshops. Our talented, nurturing educators will spark creativity and imagination, and help teens of all ages to advance their artistic abilities. 

Saturday Workshop!

Wet Paint: Working with Watercolor

Saturday, May 7

From 1pm to 4pm

Discover the techniques of watercolor painting through creative exercises that explore the many aspects of this  popular medium, from brushwork and layering to the creation of color harmonies. $10, $8 members.

Summer Teen Art Workshop Weeks!

Animation from A to Z

With Cartoonist/Animator Scott Lincoln

 Monday through Friday, July 11 through 15

from 10am-3pm

Explore the art of animation! Character design, storyboard illustration, and computer animation techniques will be a part of this exciting hands-on experience. Students will be inspired to create their own animated images, and explore the world of digital animation in Ice Age to the Digital Age: The 3D Animation Art of Blue Sky Studios. Freelance cartoonist and animator Scott Lincoln is the creator of Ralf the Destroyer, a long-running cartoon strip, and has taught aspiring artists at the Guy Gilchrist Cartoon Academy.

For teens ages 13 and up. Full week: $175, $150 members. Extended day from 3pm to 5pm, $50 per week. Materials provided. Please bring lunch, we’ll provide beverages and snacks.

Filmmaking! Storyboards and the Moving Image

With Illustrator/Storyboard Artist Robert Castillo

 Monday through Friday, July 18 through 22

from 10am-3pm

Join us for an exciting hands-on exploration of the art of film, from script writing to the development of storyboards and live action video. In-gallery and classroom art activities will also explore original works by Norman Rockwell and the world of digital animation in Ice Age to the Digital Age: The 3D Animation Art of Blue Sky Studios. A gifted illustrator, animator, and storyboard artist, Robert Castillo has created imagery for an impressive roster of clients, including Adidas, VHI, ESPN, PHAT FARM, HBO, and Silver Cup Studios.

 For teens ages 13 and up. Full week: $175, $150 members. Extended day from 3pm to 5pm, $50 per week. Materials provided. Please bring lunch, we’ll provide beverages and snacks.

We hope to see you soon! Please call 413 298 4100 ext 221 to register for classes.

Pictured here in his parlor under a vibrant, colorful likeness of the artist by Philip Burke, de Sève is an outstanding draftsman and the lead character designer for the blockbuster animated film, Ice Age, and its popular sequels, The Meltdown and Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Scrat, Sid, Manny, Diego, and Ellie are just a few of the many Ice Age characters that have been imagined in his fluid, emotive drawings, as has Rodney, the beloved protagonist in Robots, another film by Blue Sky/20th Century Fox, directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha.

Recognized for his many New Yorker cover illustrations, which feature all manner of lovable creatures (human and otherwise), de Sève has also created character designs for Mulan, A Bug’s Life, Tarzan, and Finding Nemo. A member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, he is working closely with us and other members of the Blue Sky creative team to develop an installation that inspires appreciation and understanding of the artistic and technical aspects of the digital animation process. From June through October, visitors will be invited to enter re-created animator work stations and a sculpture studio where maquettes for animated films are designed, inspired by actual spaces at Blue Sky Studios in Greenwich, Connecticut. Rarely-seen storyboards, character illustrations, and background paintings by de Sève and other Blue Sky artists are at the heart of the narrative process, and are sure to inspire.

“From overall design to modeling in clay, modeling in the computer, skin color, hair texture, suggestions on how characters might move, everything is considered,” says de Sève. Starting with scriptwriters and character designers, things are then turned over to departments dedicated to rigging (a sort of computerized skeleton for the characters), lighting, materials (including feathers, cloth and fur), special effects, and a complex render farm using Blue Sky’s proprietary CGI Studio software, which transforms the animators’ virtual 3D world into an final motion picture. In Blue Sky co-founder Chris Wedge’s view, art challenges technology and technology inspires art. “The only limit to what can be accomplished in this world is our ability to imagine what is possible. This is the Blue Sky idea, and I promise you that it works.”

More on this exciting project soon – we look forward to seeing you in June, and hopefully, before!

As a boy growing up in Alpena, Michigan, Elwood H. Smith loved comic books and early twentieth-century cartoon characters, particularly those drawn by George Herriman, the creator of Krazy Kat. Encouraged by his parents and his high school art teacher, Nancy Boyer-Feindt, he developed his drawing ability, taking the Famous Artists School cartoon correspondence course and attending art school at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. After working as an advertising art director in Chicago, illustration brought him to New York and his own comic style began to take form. “I really wanted to be like Norman Rockwell—not work like him but be a well-known illustrator. Maybe it comes from primal insecurity. I was shy in school and drew in my books all the time. I felt it was the one thing I could do well.”

An acclaimed humorous illustrator, Smith is best known for his whimsical comic characters that lend pointed perspectives to the written word. His intelligent, inventive drawings have appeared on the covers and pages of Forbes, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Bloomberg, GQ, Money, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among other noted publications, and have enhanced the corporate profiles of Sony, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Pizza Hut, AT&T, McDonald’s, Cellular One, and Bell Atlantic. Stalling, Hot Diggity Dog, Catfish Kate and the Sweet Swamp Band, See How They Run, The Truth About Poop, Raise the Roof!, and Bug Muldoon are among his many illustrated children’s books. He has also enjoyed exploring the world of animation in creative productions like Kyoti Kapers, Little Green Monkey, and Sweet Dreams, which bring the artist’s drawings to life. Musically gifted too, Smith has been playing guitar since the late 1950s, and composing his own songs for more than three decades. The former lead guitarist for Ben Day and the Zipatones, an all-artist band that included Lou Brooks and Mark Alan Stamaty, he is the creator of Lucky Dog, his debut compilation produced and sung by John Platania.

We have so greatly enjoyed learning more about the life and art of this incredibly gifted artist, and look forward to sharing the extensive body of work that is testement to his extraordinary career. Please join us at the festive opening of this exciting exhibition on Saturday, February 19 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm, with commentary at 4:30pm by Elwood H. Smith and friends, noted Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne, and author/actor Will Osborne.

Cover illustration for "John Henry," Jerry Pinkney, 1994. ©1994 Jerry Pinkney Studio. All rights reserved.

Nothing I had read or seen prepared me for the depth of the history he brings to life.–”Berkshire Eagle”

Experience the art of Jerry Pinkney, a master of the American picturebook whose unforgettable visual narratives reflect deeply felt personal and cultural themes, bearing witness to the African-American experience, the wonders of classic literature, and the wisdom in well-loved folk tales. A belief in the ability of images to speak about and to humanity is at this legendary artist’s core. His artworks celebrating life’s small but extraordinary moments and significant historical events reflect the  power of visual storytelling in our lives, “becoming the voice that others may not have had.”

Honoring an artistic journey that has continued for fifty years, Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney features luminous watercolor paintings and richly detailed drawings created for best-loved books and carefully-researched historical commissions. Original illustrations for The Lion and The Mouse, The Old African, John Henry, Black Cowboys/Wild Horses, Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales, The Sweethearts of Rhythm, The Little Match Girl and other books, and for such site-specific commissions as the African Burial Ground Interpretive Center in New York City; National Parks Service Carver National Monument in Missouri; and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Ohio, will be on view.

A popular and critically acclaimed artist, Jerry Pinkney was recently presented with the prestigious Caldecott Medal, awarded to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picturebook for children that year. The recipient of five Caldecott Honor Medals, five Coretta Scott King Awards, four Coretta Scott King Honor Awards, and a life time achievement award from the Society of Illustrators in New York, the artist has also served on the Board of the National Endowment for the Arts, and on the National Postal Service’s Citizen Stamp Advisory Council.

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney is made possible, in part, with generous support from Penguin Group, Inc. and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, A division of The Hatchette Group.

Learn more about Jerry Pinkney on the artist’s website: www.jerrypinkneystudio.com

"Driving in the Golden Spike," Ed Vebell. All rights reserved. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum, gift of Ed Vebell.

Ed Vebell was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of hardworking Lithuania
parents. At the age of fourteen, he began attending art school, where he excelled as a draftsman. After launching his professional illustration career in a busy Chicago agency, he enlisted in World War II, and began his tenure in the United States Army in a camoflouge company. It was not long he was recruited to create imagery for The Stars and Stripes, a military publication that had featured Norman Rockwell’s drawings during World War I, as well as Yank Magazine. Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Andy Rooney, and Bill Mauldin were among the famous individuals he became acquainted with while working on assignment. In 1945, he participated in the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial as a courtroom artist, capturing the brooding likenesses of Goering, Hess, Speer, and Ribbentrop, which are now among the collections of the Museum of the Holocaust in Washington, D.C.

An Olympic fencer and World Champion, Ed married an accomplished practitioner of the sport, and moved to Wesport, Connecticut, an active community of celebrated illustrators during America’s mid-century. No stranger to hard work, he spent seven days a week in the studio to satisfy ongoing deadlines, creating paintings and drawings for mass circulation magazines like Readers Digest, Time, Sports Illustrated and Sports Afield. An accomplished photographer as well, the artist also arranged photo shoots for famous Western artists, making the many authentic costumes and props that he has acquired over a lifetime available for their use. We look forward to exhibiting and preserving his Ed Vebell’s Promontory Point for many generations to come.

Afghan Sketch by Combat Artist Michael Fay. ©Michael Fay. All rights reserved.

Thursday, August 5, 5:30pm

Join us on for a fascinating look at the little known world of the contemporary combat artist. Chief Warrant Officer Michael Fay, one of two official combat artists currently serving in the Marine Corps, will share stories of his experiences in the field through powerful artworks reflecting personal observations of military life in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In an age of instant messaging, digital photography, and embedded journalists, Michael Fay continues a tradition of combat art that has endured for centuries. The artist’s insightful drawings and watercolors place a human face on war, depicting Marines and Middle Eastern soldiers and civilians conducting the routine aspects of their lives under the most challenging circumstances. “My art articulates what is true and real about the actual experiences of war and warriers,” Fay notes. “My intent, especially in view of current events, is to give people…anothe insight as we all struggle to understand this unfolding drama called the War on Terrorism. It is also my hope that this experience, though grounded in realism, is more poetry than prose, and more art than journalism.”

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Michael Fay is a Reservist from Fredricksburg, Virginia. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he is the eldest son of a Marine officer who served before and during World War II. The artist began is tenure in the Marines from 1975 to 1978 as an infantryman and attained the rank of sergeant. After pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Art Education from Pennsylvania State University, he re-enlisted and served on active duty for a decade, from 1983 to 1993. During this period, he participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and after a hiatus, became a combat artist with the Field History Detachment supporting the Historical Division of the Marine Corps in 2000. As an official Marine Corps combat artist, Fay has been mobilized for extended periods and has served several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq – most recently in June 2010.

Adults free with Museum admission, children to age 18 free. A reception with the artist will follow.

*Please note: the Carol Kino lecture originally scheduled for August 5 has been postponed. Watch this space for future updates.