Partway through the Rockwell portion of this post I realized I had forgotten I was reading a blog post. I was sitting in another art appreciation class there for a minute--and loving it, as usual. The rest of the post was quirky and fun. Love your daughter's poem. Love King Bruce. Thinking about Bluesky. And singing in my head: "Mr. Blue Sky, Mr. Blue Sky, Mr. Blue Skyyy-yyyy..."
My parents loved the folksy themes of Norman Rockwell, and we had several books of his paintings. I often looked at them, and always stopped and studied his 'The Golden Rule'. 'The Problem We All Live With' was included in the books, but not 'Murder in Mississippi'. Knowing Rockwell's other work as well as I do, 'Murder in Mississippi' stands out as a furious howl of righteous anger.
Yeah it's interesting, he did a full painting of the scene but the magazine decided to run the color study (the one included here, the first pic). He said he thought they were right because by the time he got it all painted "all the anger had bled out of it" but that was still on display in the color study.
Love this history lesson. I didn't know about Rockwell's later career and the post-Post dynamic. I was thinking about Thomas Nast the other day. What would he think if he saw where the country was more than a century after he created art to reveal our evil ways? It's sad how hard of a sell love and peace and unity are to so many of us. Maybe the ugly reality through art will open up some malicious eyes if they're not too cowardly to look at the consequences of their hate.
Rockwell was a weird and interesting guy. Some people suggest that his later awakening to racial issues was due to his marriage to his third wife, but he was so introverted and quiet about things that no one really knows exactly what happened there.
Another great post! I’d never seen the Murder in Mississippi painting. It’s much more stark than anything else I’ve seen by Rockwell and very moving.
Partway through the Rockwell portion of this post I realized I had forgotten I was reading a blog post. I was sitting in another art appreciation class there for a minute--and loving it, as usual. The rest of the post was quirky and fun. Love your daughter's poem. Love King Bruce. Thinking about Bluesky. And singing in my head: "Mr. Blue Sky, Mr. Blue Sky, Mr. Blue Skyyy-yyyy..."
Thanks Sherry!
My parents loved the folksy themes of Norman Rockwell, and we had several books of his paintings. I often looked at them, and always stopped and studied his 'The Golden Rule'. 'The Problem We All Live With' was included in the books, but not 'Murder in Mississippi'. Knowing Rockwell's other work as well as I do, 'Murder in Mississippi' stands out as a furious howl of righteous anger.
Yeah it's interesting, he did a full painting of the scene but the magazine decided to run the color study (the one included here, the first pic). He said he thought they were right because by the time he got it all painted "all the anger had bled out of it" but that was still on display in the color study.
Love this history lesson. I didn't know about Rockwell's later career and the post-Post dynamic. I was thinking about Thomas Nast the other day. What would he think if he saw where the country was more than a century after he created art to reveal our evil ways? It's sad how hard of a sell love and peace and unity are to so many of us. Maybe the ugly reality through art will open up some malicious eyes if they're not too cowardly to look at the consequences of their hate.
Rockwell was a weird and interesting guy. Some people suggest that his later awakening to racial issues was due to his marriage to his third wife, but he was so introverted and quiet about things that no one really knows exactly what happened there.
Another great post! I’d never seen the Murder in Mississippi painting. It’s much more stark than anything else I’ve seen by Rockwell and very moving.
Great post, Matt.
Thanks Shawn!
Hey I've been meaning to ask if your shop ships books or if you do everything local?
We love to ship books! If you ever want to order something, email us at hello@nooks.gallery.