Norman Rockwell and propaganda

[baleanoptera]

Dear f-list (especially the North-American contingent).

I need some help here.
I'm working on an article about propaganda and art in the 1940's and one of the American pieces is by Norman Rockwell. Am I correct in remembering that there is a saying "it looked like a Norman Rockwell painting" to describe something nostalgic and sentimental - and it is his sentimental and idyllic paintings he is best known for?

You see all my books focus on his artistic development. They say nothing about his legacy in popular culture, and that is partially what I need. So I any of you could enlighten me in regards to the Rockwellian-pop culture I'd be every so happy.

Comments

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

This book (http://www.amazon.com/Norman-Rockwell-Underside-Richard-Halpern/dp/0226314405) looks very interesting. I don't know if it talks about his legacy, although it might give you some ideas. Mark Chapman funded his murder of John Lennon with the sale of a Rockwell painting.

I also found these two articles: Norman Rockwell and the Fashioning of American Masculinity (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-19178135.html) and the Time obit. (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948350,00.html?promoid=googlep) I'm sure there are many other things available online.

A kitschy dream world about sums it up for me, but I suppose whether one sees his paintings as improbable kitsch depends on the extent to which one has bought into that version of the American Dream.

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This is beyond amazing! The article on Rockwell and the Fashioning of American Masculinity in particular.

One of the most fascinating aspects of propaganda art, at least to me, is how it sets out to define and standardize gender roles. Especially the male roles suffer from this, as the few, if not the only, acceptable male role is that of the soldier. The underlying message being that a man isn't a man unless he is prepared to kill.

Women on the other hand have a slightly larger spectrum to choose from, with Rosie the Riveter on one end and the sacrificing mother on the other.

A kitschy dream world about sums it up for me,

Yes, this is the impression I've had as well. And in that light I find it particularly interesting that he has also painted such savage war posters.
I'm wondering if it would be possible to argue that his reputation as a painter of idyllic images also works for him while painting the darker war posters. That the viewers will look at the painting above and establish a connection between the war images and the peace images. To see the war images and the idyllic peace images as two sides of the same coin - and that the one (peace) is dependent on the other (war)? If that makes any sense.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

It makes a lot of sense. If the viewer connected the idyllic images with a way of life (especially a way of life based on what it means to be American and not anything else) he or she might be inclined to trust both the authenticity of those particular images of war--this is just how it is--as well as the ideological drive behind the war.