Stockbridge, MA, August 17, 2016—Inspired by its newest exhibition, Rockwell and Realism in the Abstract World, Norman Rockwell Museum will present “The Visual Narrative: Three Perspectives” on Thursday, August 25, starting at 5:30 p.m. Meet Marshall Arisman, Anita Kunz, and Thomas Woodruff, three award-winning illustrators who also create personal works that have their own story to tell. The talk is free for Museum members, or included with Museum admission. Reservations are recommended by calling: 413.931.2221.

Marshall Arisman’s paintings and drawings have been published widely and exhibited internationally. He has created artworks for virtually every national publication, including Time, U.S. News & World Report, The Nation, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. His work may be seen in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, the New York Historical Society and the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Telfair Museum of Art, as well as many private and corporate collections. Arisman was the first American invited to exhibit in main land China in 1999. The exhibition Sacred Monkeys, appeared at the Guang Dong Museum of Art. He is the founder and director of the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts. Learn more at: www.marshallarisman.com

Anita Kunz, "Silent Night"

Anita Kunz’s art appears regularly in Time, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and GQ, as well as in galleries and museums. Named one of the fifty most influential women in Canada by the National Post newspaper, Anita Kunz has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honor. Her incisive visual commentary has addressed a wide range of subjects over the years. Learn more at: www.anitakunz.com

Thomas Woodruff has worked across artistic disciplines throughout his career. A contributor of award-winning illustrations to major American periodicals, he has created book cover illustrations for the novels of Ann Tyler, Robertson Davies, and Gabriel Garcia Márquez, and collaborated on theatrical and television productions, including works by avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson. The artist’s witty, conceptual Rock and Roll Still Life Series appeared on the back page of Rolling Stone in 1988, visual reactions to popular songs from the 1960s Woodruff is the Chair of Illustration and Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he has taught since 1981.
Rockwell and Realism in an Abstract World
On view through October 30, 2016

In post-World War II America, the primacy of abstract art was clearly acknowledged, and by 1961, when Rockwell painted The Connoisseur, Abstract Expressionism had been covered in the popular press for nearly 15 years. Originated in the 1940s by Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko, among others, Abstract Expressionism was the first American movement to achieve widespread international influence.

For the first time, Norman Rockwell Museum will explore the contrast between the abstract and realist movements, placing works by Rockwell, Wyeth, and Warhol side by side with Pollock, Calder, Johns, and over 40 other preeminent artists. Rockwell and Realism in an Abstract World examines the forces that forged the mid-century dismissal of narrative painting and illustration, as well as the resurgence of realist painting during the latter half of the twentieth century, its presence and critical consideration today, and the ways in which our contemporary viewpoints have been shaped by post World War II constructs.

The exhibition features the art of prominent illustrators, painters, and sculptors whose autographic art spans more than 60 years, representing many dynamic forms of visual communication. Featured artists include: Marshall Arisman, Bo Bartlett, Austin Briggs, Alexander Calder, Alan E. Cober, Robert Cottingham, Robert Cunningham, Joe De Mers, Walton Ford, Eric Forstmann, Helen Frankenthaler, Bernie Fuchs, Sam Francis, Edwin Georgi, George Giusti, Ralph Goings, Cleve Grey, Brad Holland, Dan Howe, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Anita Kunz, Jacqui Morgan, Robert Motherwell, Barbara Nessim, Barnett Newman, Tim O’Brien, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, Al Parker, Bob Peak, Philip Pearlstein, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Norman Rockwell, Peter Rockwell, James Rosenquist, David Salle, Saul Steinberg, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Robert Weaver, Thomas Woodruff, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth. The exhibition is sponsored by TD Bank.

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