"Freedom of Speech," Norman Rockwell, 1943. Oil on canvas, 45 ¾” x 35 ½”. Story illustration for "The Saturday Evening Post," February 20, 1943. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections. ©1943 SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

Educating Students for a Rapidly Changing World

By the 18^th century, scientific studies yielded an illuminating artistic interest in differentiating the quality of light and color seen at night versus that experienced during the day. The color of things we see is based upon the wavelength of light that bounces back into our eye’s cones from the object being viewed. At night in the dark, the eye’s rods take over and because they are efficient at collecting light we are able to see in the dark. But what the eye’s rods do not do well is to distinguish between different colors so what we see takes on grayish tones.  As artificial light began to illuminate the night, artists like Joseph Wright ofDerby took an interest in and sometimes even painted comparative pictures of this phenomenon revealing the same location when seen at night and during the day.

Joseph Wright ofDerby(1734-1797)
Matlock Tor by Moonlight, 1777-80
Oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund, 48.4

Other artists considered the limited palette of night a thing of beauty. Early 20^th century American Ashcan painter Robert Henri wrote in his 1923 guide to painting, The Art Spirit, “The beauty of night is not so much in what you cannot see as in what you can see. It is a fine thing, after the brilliant reds and blues and yellows of daylight, to see the close harmony of evening and night.”**

Beginning in 1920, illustrators Maxfield Parrish and Norman Rockwell were commissioned to create a group of advertising illustrations for the Edison Mazda division of General Electric focused on the goodness of life in the light. The name Mazda was used by GE for its Edison Mazda lamp as a reference to the god of light in Persian mythology, Ahura Mazda, Lord Wisdom (Ahura means light and Mazda means wisdom). By 1927 Rockwell had painted at least twenty advertising illustrations for Edisonthat were used in magazine ads and for store displays. Most of these illustrations pictured people gathered indoors in electric light enjoying daily activities or familial interactions. The one pictured here, And the Symbol of Welcome Is Light, is the only Rockwell scene from this group that is set out doors. Even though Rockwell chose to set the scene under the light of a full moon, it is the combined glow from the various household lights, party lights, and even car head lights that make this illustration compelling.

Rockwell used the light radiating through the house’s windows and open door to silhouette the heads of the adult and child as they leave the car they arrived to the party in; the welcoming hostess backlit in the doorway glows like an angel in an illuminated manuscript with her arms outstretched in hospitality—inviting her guests out of the darkness and into the light; the colorful Japanese paper lanterns hang from and define the equally welcoming branches of the large tree that shade and protect the household even as the open spaces in its branches reveal the full moon; and the face of the car’s driver is seen in the reflected light cast from the control panel of the car’s dashboard.***

As we can see the advent of easy artificial light changed our perceptions of what was possible and expected until it became the new norm, as in the Yvonne Jacquette painting below. Jacquette paints bird’s-eye views of cities and landscapes. This one reveals the artificial light that defines the landscape at night when seen from above.

Yvonne Jacquette (b. 1934)
Route 3, to Augusta, Maine, 2008
Oil on canvas
Courtesy   D.C. Moore Gallery,NY

No longer is the art of illuminating darkness a transforming phenomenon.  Instead we are beginning to view our light drenched world as in need of toning down the light. As the English playwright Christopher Fry titled his 1954 play, “The dark is light enough.”

* First published as an ad in the Saturday Evening Post (August 7, 1920): 61.

** See, Robert Henri, The Art Spirit (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1923): 39.

*** Since the car has a front seat open to the elements and a protected back seat I believe the style is a cabriolet.

January 12, 2012

By Joyce K. Schiller, Curator, Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, at the Norman Rockwell Museum

Gillis & Gwyneth: A Cultural Comparison
By Lisa Perrin

Presently, most Americans receive their information and entertainment from the Internet. Even television, a revolutionary advancement in its time, is becoming an antiquated technology. It is difficult for my generation to conceive a time when magazines held power and influence in American homes. The kind of magazines people waited in anticipation for, talked about, and wrote back to. The Saturday Evening Post is one such magazine. Handling it gently in gloves it is like some fragile relic of a distant culture. With the April 11^th, 1942 issue of The Saturday Evening Post in one hand and the September 2011 issue of Elle in the other it is a curious comparison seventy years in the making. It is fascinating to consider what has changed in American life and consciousness. What we care about now, the way we advertise, and whom we show in magazines has all changed. We are a completely different culture from the days of The Saturday Evening Post.

This particular edition of The Post is unique because it was released during World War II. And the war is mentioned in several editorials and advertisements in the issue. The cover is the most striking element of any magazine. It is what catches our eye from the newsstand and piques our interest. Norman Rockwell has illustrated this particular cover. On a lush crimson background is a solitary figure, a young man, with an incredulous expression that relates engrossed interest and surprise. We quickly discern that he is a soldier from his uniform. The object that is fascinating him so much is not a weapon of war but a newspaper from home. We know it is from home because Rockwell has plainly titled it “The Hometown News,” and the newspaper is marked up with blue pen, surely notes from mom to make sure “Willie” sees certain stories. Beside the young man is a tub of half-peeled apples and a great roll of other newspapers with an envelope. There is so much to explore in this cover. There is the depiction of the solider doing an ordinary task. This would have been a comforting image to mothers at home who would prefer to think of their sons peeling apples then on the fields of battle. This was when American patriotism was flying high. And this young man, Willie Gillis, represented hundreds of young men recruited in the war effort. Another point of interest is the sight of this young man pouring over a newspaper, which is something we don’t see too many young people doing these days. He, like the readers of The Post, got their information through the written word. Even with the cloud of a terrible war this cover evokes nostalgia for a simpler time, a time of innocence and Americana.

My September issue of Elle has two covers this month. Both feature actress Gwyneth Palthrow. Both are photographs. Unlike Rockwell who signed his work, it is difficult to discover the name of the photographer. On one side we see her profile. She is wearing a chunky knit sweater and her blonde hair is tied into a pony-tail. She is back-lit in a dreamy way that makes her seem angelic and far-way. This contrasts heavily with the other cover on the reverse side. Gwenyth is looking directly at her viewer through smoky eyes. Her hair is loose. She is wearing a black mini dress with huge furry sleeves. One hand is placed stylishly on her hip. The other hand showcases a massive diamond ring. Her black dress stands out against the stark white background. She is a glamorous celebrity looking the part. She does not represent the every-many like Willie Gillis but rather the fetishized ideal. She is not away at war but in a photography studio. She is real and he is fictionalized. And yet Willie seems much more accessible. Their clothes say a lot about them. Willie is in the army; Gwenyth is a rich style icon. She represents the current American obsession with celebrity. In common, they are both solitary figures on solid backgrounds. The images overlap with the name of the magazine. They are both icons but in very different ways.

America has changed. It is undeniable. These two magazine covers reflect a shift of thinking in this country. We seem to prefer photographs to illustrations, celebrities to ordinary people, sex to wholesomeness. We don’t seem to want the rich narrative of a Rockwell cover but the flat image of a celebrity that tells no story at all. It is difficult not to leaf through The Post with a certain kind of nostalgia for a simpler time where American heroes were soldiers, not celebrities.

Ralph H. Baer poses in Norman Rockwell Museum's Archives in September 2011, with a painting of another pioneer: Daniel Boone. Mr. Baer is considered the "father of video games," and donated the original Norman Rockwell painting to the Museum back in the 1990s. Photo courtesy Ralph H. Baer. All rights reserved.

Norman Rockwell Museum recently had the special honor of a visit from a man who is not only one of our generous art donors, but also a true innovator (in a field that is now a billion dollar industry)! Ralph H. Baer is considered “the father of video games.” Back in the late 1960s, this creative engineer developed the first of a series of games to play on a television screen, including the popular ping-pong game. A few years later he teamed up with Magnavox to release Odyssey, the first home video game console, based on his original “Brown Box” prototype. The console included an assortment of unique controls, including a light-activated toy gun, which is still being used in video game technology to this day.

Baer continued to experiment with technology in the 1970s, creating the immensely popular music game SIMON. He also produced some of the first musical greeting cards and toys, which now have become so commonplace in this electronic age. At age 89, this pioneer is as active as ever, serving as a consultant for engineering and the video game industry, and still hard at work on new ideas. He recently welcomed representatives from Norman Rockwell Museum to his home in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he agreed to a videotaped interview about his remarkable career (this interview is now part of the Museum’s ever-expanding archive of oral histories).

At age 89, Ralph H. Baer is as ever busy as ever. Here, he tinkers away in his Manchester, New Hampshire laboratory/home. Photo by Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Mr. Baer became connected to Norman Rockwell Museum back in the 1990s, when he very generously donated a rare, original Rockwell painting to the Museum. The 1914 oil-on-canvas was a part of a series of story illustrations about American frontiersman Daniel Boone that Rockwell created for Boys’ Life magazine, when the artist (then the magazine’s art editor) was only 20 years old! Baer and his late wife received the painting from his father-in-law Sam Winston, who had originally obtained the work from Norman Rockwell’s father Waring. Mr. Winston had worked in the cotton textile industry with Rockwell’s father in New York City, just as the young artist was beginning his own career.

“When my father-in-law got married to my mother-in-law, Norman’s father said I need a wedding present for this guy,” recalls Baer. Waring Rockwell asked his illustrator son for a painting to give to the couple, and the artist obliged. “It hung on the wall in their apartment on Sedgwick Avenue in New York for 30 years… and it was full of New York City cigarette smoke and dust and dirt, because it was inescapable… So the picture was pretty grimy and dark.”

When Mr. Baer’s in-laws became too frail to remain in their own home, he moved out many of their belongings, including the painting, to the residence he shared with his wife in New Hampshire. “To me it’s a national treasure,” notes Baer. “I didn’t know what to do with it, so I hung it in the darkest place of the house—down in the basement in a corner, where no one ever comes.” A trip to the Berkshires and Norman Rockwell Museum convinced the couple that the painting might be better cared for and appreciated in the Museum’s collection.  “When we brought it in, everybody jumped three feet high because they didn’t know where the thing was. They hadn’t seen it in 50 years, you know.”

The painting, Scouting With Daniel Boone is now a cherished part of Norman Rockwell Museum’s permanent collection, and currently on view in the Museum’s traveling exhibition, American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell. The exhibit opens this weekend, November 12, at the Dayton Art Institute, in Dayton, Ohio.

Ralph H. Baer demonstrates his early TV ping-pong game (which kicked off the video game revolution), on a prototype of his early "Brown Box" technology. Photo by Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Like Norman Rockwell, Mr. Baer knows a thing or two about archival preservation. The 2006 National Medal of Technology recipient and 2010 Inventors Hall of Fame inductee recently donated his many video game test units, production models, notes, and schematics to The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and The Strong National Museum of Play. Prototypes of this groundbreaking engineer’s games are currently on display (and can be played) at the Strong Museum as well as The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York.

Norman Rockwell Museum sincerely thanks Ralph H. Baer for his incredible generosity and friendship towards the Museum over the years, and for the many hours of enjoyment he has provided its young staff through his own highly creative works of art.

Learn more about Ralph H. Baer’s extraordinary life and career on his website: www.ralphbaer.com

Recent article: “Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games, reflects on his career,” “The Salt Lake Tribune,” November 6, 2011

Check out this great 1969 video of Ralph H. Baer and his associate Bill Harrison playing his early ping-pong game! www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LsRGUODHlQ

"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!

"Life" magazine cover illustration by Russell Patterson (1896-1977), March 10, 1927. All rights reserved. Courtesy S. Jaleen Grove.

It has been a busy week for Rockwell Center Fellow S. Jaleen Grove. Yesterday she was in St. Louis, Missouri, to present a talk on innovative artist Robert Weaver; this Saturday, October 1, she will be in New York City to attend the opening of the exhibition Oscar Cahén: Canada’s Groundbreaking Illustrator, which she co-curated with Illustration House; and on Sunday, October 2, she returns to Norman Rockwell Museum to present the provocatively titled lecture “Sex, Booze, and All That Jazz: The Humorous Illustrations of Russell Patterson.”

Sunday’s illustrated lecture looks at the career of Russell Patterson (1893-1977), an influential artist, whose art deco style illustrations helped promote the idea of the 1920s and 1930s fashion style known as the flapper. According to Grove, the Patterson Girl, like the earlier Gibson Girl, “paradoxically symbolized both the excess and the containment of female sexuality in popular culture” during the Jazz Age. The artist’s girlie drawings were symptomatic of shifts in courtship, class behaviors, and commercial culture, and his work helped to redefine modern beauty standards and gender performance.

“Patterson’s illustrations were a response to a new norm, “ notes Ms. Grove. “Illustrators were faced with models’ unprecedented sexual and business autonomy. The tension between the sexes in his work is reflective of the displacement of illustrated print media by the camera and the very models he had helped promote. The increasing tawdriness of his depictions of women may be seen as an attempt to hang on to power by showing what the camera could not, as well as a misogynist mocking of the very sexuality his illustrations celebrate.”

Black and white illustration created by Russell Patterson (1896-1977). All rights reserved. Courtesy S. Jaleen Grove.

Nevertheless, the artist’s work was widely imitated and famous in his day. “Patterson’s masterful black and white line drawings expressed the rebellious spirit of the Jazz Age so outrageously that they still charm—and raise eyebrows—today.” Apart from illustration, the artist was also successful creating interior design for such department stores as Marshall Field; costumes and set designs for Broadway shows and Hollywood movies; clothing designs for department stores and the Women’s Army Corps; in addition to designing hotel lobbies and restaurant interiors.

Admission to Sunday’s lecture costs $16, $12 for Museum members. Tea and refreshments will be served. To pre-register, please contact the Museum at 413.298.4100, ext. 221.

S. Jaleen Grove is a Ph.D. candidate at Stony Brook University, and the recipient of the 2011 Rockwell Center Dissertation Fellowship for a doctoral candidate pursuing research or projects in or relating to the subject field of American illustration art and visual studies. Visit her website: http://jaleengrove.blogspot.com

Related links:

Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies

File Magazine feature: Russell Patterson

Illustration House

S. Jaleen Grove’s website

artofrussellpatterson.blogspot.com

Artists and Models movie clip featuring Patterson’s Personettes

(special thanks to S. Jaleen Grove, Carrie Coleman, and Walt Reed, for supporting material used in this blog post)

David Macaulay, Norman Rockwell Museum's 2011-2012 Artist Laureate; with Barbara Nessim, the Museum's inaugural Laureate, at the awards dinner on September 24, 2011. Photo by Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Illustrator David Macaulay was honored as Norman Rockwell Museum’s 2011-2012 Artist Laureate during a special awards ceremony held at the Museum on Saturday, September 24. The celebrated artist behind such illustrated books as Cathedral and The Way Things Work, Macaulay has long been a supporter of the Museum, and his work was also featured in Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay, a successful 2004 exhibition that went on to travel the nation.

During the evening celebration, the artist provided a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of his most recent work, including The Way We Work and Built To Last. Original artwork from these books, along with his cover for the September 19, 2011 edition of The New Yorker, are currently on view at Norman Rockwell Museum.