Norman Rockwell was one of the greatest Twentieth Century American oil painters and illustrators. Being an illustrator, he wasn’t considered a serious artist among his peers and the art world.
His art portrayed American history and culture. His paintings were rich in texture and evoked emotions. In 1943, he painted four paintings, inspired by a speech given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. These paintings displayed four basic human rights. They were known as the four fears.
On December 4, 2013, Sotheby’s sold three of Rockwell’s paintings, “Saying Grace” for $46 million, “The Gossips” for $8.45 million, and “Walking to Church” for $3.2 million. Saying Grace was the highest paid price for a painting at an American art auction.
“The view of life I communicate in my pictures excludes the sordid and ugly. I paint life as I would like it to be.”
IMAGES:
Fig.1 – Freedom From Fear.
This painting shows two children being safely tucked into bed by their parents.
Fig.2 – Freedom of Worship.
This depicts people from all walks of life praying together.
Fig.3 – Freedom From Want.
This painting displays a family enjoying a festive meal together.
Fig.4 – Freedom of Speech.
This exhibits a young man speaking his opinion even though he was the minority.
Images courtesy of www.art.co.uk
Just discovered your site while looking on line for brushes. So glad to meet you. Brilliant – just brilliant!
Alexis
I am about to make my first purchase(s) of watercolor brushes when I discovered the “News Articles” box. I began reading everything but when I came upon this posting I just had to stop to write a comment. I do not live very far from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Rockwell’s beautiful historic hometown of Stockbridge, MA, USA. Currently there is an exhibition of Norman Rockwell’s and Andy Warhol’s work titled “Inventing America: Rockwell and Warhol.” I have not yet gone over to view the exhibition, but I have seen both artists’ original works separately. I never would have thought to compare them as they seem worlds and eons of time apart from each other. But if you think about this, they share some commonalities in that they both were controversial artists of their times and basically captured the American way of life as they saw it. If you want more information please visit https://nrm.org. Thank you for this uplifting posting.