Creative Writing Class
Creative Writing
Monica Maxfield
Soraya Habeych
Art
The Problem we live with
By Norman Rockwell
Born Norman Percevel Rockwell Feb. 3rd. 1894 in N.Y., N.Y., and passed away in 1978 at the
ripe old age of 84. this is not a bio of the great Norman Rockwell, it is not. I am simply acknowledging the era of the amazing man that inspired me growing up as a child artist in this particular century. I am a woman of 60-something (baby boomer, if you will) so I am quite aware
of this artist as his artwork which was alive and well at the time of my fledgling years as an aspiring artist and illustrator.
He was a 20th century American artist and illustrator, whom with brilliant colors and extraordinary eye for details brought to life images of real-life Americana, and how people were portrayed back in the day. It seemed to be such an innocent time back then and folk art was extremely popular.
He was most renowned for the paintings he created for the magazine “The Saturday Evening
Post” but was not limited to. His success led to other literary published works (magazines) who vied over his talent such as “The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie’s Weekly, and Life Magazine as well, just to name a few.
His stint began attending public high school, but was then transferred to the Chase Art
School at the tender age of 14. The colleges that proceeded were
“The National Academy of Design, and last, but not least, “The Art Students League”, which was when he gained a lot of his notoriety.
He shared a studio and worked alongside with a cartoonist named Clyde Forsyth, who worked for the Saturday Evening Post back in 1916. There simply not enough room on one page to describe the kind of amazing works that this man did throughout his lifetime. The creativeness, and the mere detail-oriented work this gentleman had just by the use of paint and canvas alone simply dumb found ’s me. The realism and just the literal detail in which this artist used have blown me away for years and years. I never tire of looking at his artwork. I just consider myself lucky for growing up at the same time and day in which he lived.
The Problem We All Live With” which is a portrait of a little black girl (Ruby Bridges) being escorted to school, protected by armed officials, graffiti covered background. It was painted for an article commissioned by “Look Magazine” which addresses the fact
that we lived in a time of bigotry, and racism. We still do sadly.
This piece he created reminds me that we live in a not-so-perfect world,
especially back in the early days of segregation and desegregation, and to be honest, it
saddens, and maddens me that people are so “stupid, and backward” in the way they perceive others, and don’t recognize people by their character, but the shade of the skin
they were given when they were born. It brings out a lot of emotion in me personally. I would have been fascinated to get a chance to meet him and learn more about him
personally. Although he is gone, I would like to think that his works will inspire many young artists as well as myself many years from now. Thank you, Mr. Rockwell.
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