Well written and well thought out. I better understand the gut punch I feel when I view this painting, Rockwell having placed us in the position of those hurling racial epithets at a child. And yet, the naive courage of the young girl remains the most potent thing I carry away from the viewing.
I think there are a lot of ways to emotional experience this painting, but even what you describe, I'd suggest that effect is so potent because you're in the position of the assaliant. She's that courageous in the face of *your* hate.
I'm still not certain that he was a white supremacist as such - more one who had the blindness and naivete that most white Americans of that time had. He pioneered a way of seeing America that reassured white Americans that they were true-blue, wholesome, decent people with good home cooking and neighborliness. But that he was moved enough to grasp that a whole subset of people who were only Americans when there was a war on and not when there wasn't gave lie to that gee-whiz image he extolled. He had more than enough decency in him to understand that we couldn't be what we proclaimed ourselves to be to the world when we routinely and systematically betrayed it.
He seemed to be sympathetic to the counterculture to a degree because he painted a cover for an Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield album.
I never said he was a white supremacist, Lee. He was anything but as a human being. But his work made him an inadvertent one given its ultimately negative impact on American culture. Why we create isn’t always the same as what a society decides your work means.
I noted after the fact, "inadvertent white supremacist."
There's no doubt that a lot of white people took for granted that they were at the top of the social food chain and saw themselves as the default people of America. On that score, it was natural for Rockwell to fall in line with that social view.
What's interesting right now is that the current administration is trying to re-establish that same image, when only a minority of people in it actually fit it fully or even partially. We have a president married to an immigrant who may at one point have been here illegally; a veep married to (gasp! shudder!) an Indian-American who (horror!) is a Hindu; a Jewish Deputy Chief of Staff, and big-pocked backers among whom are a gay immigrant, (until recently) an immigrant philanderer who has sired how-many-odd children and not be married to any one of the women who birthed them (and also had been at one point here illegally), and a Jewish tech giant with a Chinese wife.
That the veep now feels the pressure to "hope" his wife converts to Christianity after going this long without saying anything about it, until some people somewhere began whispering about it within earshot, makes it all something that only they have managed to hide from themselves in plain sight.
That it took Norman Rockwell to see through the hypocrisy over 60 years ago that they are incapable of seeing is testimony to how far backward America has gone.
Another important and insightful piece from Cole, and very timely. I can’t help thinking of this small girl, just six years old, being escorted to school by marshalls on the very day I reached my first birthday, on the other side of the world in Africa, in a country where white supremacists were already gearing up to take over from the British and had already stacked every branch and lowly office of government they could in order to achieve their goals. Little Ruby Bridges, breaking down walls, just as more were being built elsewhere.
Well, Rockwell was more complex than I ever knew. Good for him using his platform to try and break through the ignorance. But Rockwell being gay well that really is a tempest in a tea pot.
I clicked over to this from the piece you wrote about the Argento experience, and the examples of so many works of physical art influencing film. This, all of this, both of these articles, the pictures, the chance to think things over, and feel what it all inspires, this all speaks to what I love about Substack, and in particular, about the things you contribute here. Thank you!
Cole, I grew up with a coffee table book of Rockwell’s art in “Puritan” New England. Massachusetts has a patriotic vibe that can be both liberal and conservative at the same time and also elitist. It’s the only place in America where I don’t feel my pulse quicken when I see an American flag because it always felt like a genuine love or pride without the connotations it holds today. I did not recognize or receive the white culture messages growing up from Rockwell’s art but glad we had the image of all races as part of the coffee table book. Subliminal, maybe but it didn’t stick. In the same era of the 80s I didn’t recognize misogynistic behavior either. Jeez, I feel like I’m writing an essay here! Haha
In summary, I think it’s an important story to be told and hope it gets picked up.
Thanks, Shelley. I don't think most of us notice a lot when we're younger. Even young adults. We might sense it, but we don't know how to articulate it.
Still want to see the cinematic version you wrote on this...
So do I...so do I...
thank you for all you have put together here. outstanding!
Thanks, Jane - I'm glad to hear it spoke to you in any way!
Well written and well thought out. I better understand the gut punch I feel when I view this painting, Rockwell having placed us in the position of those hurling racial epithets at a child. And yet, the naive courage of the young girl remains the most potent thing I carry away from the viewing.
I think there are a lot of ways to emotional experience this painting, but even what you describe, I'd suggest that effect is so potent because you're in the position of the assaliant. She's that courageous in the face of *your* hate.
“A mirror that helps people understand their world better” should be the most important thing for all art, no matter the medium.
Absolutely!
I'm still not certain that he was a white supremacist as such - more one who had the blindness and naivete that most white Americans of that time had. He pioneered a way of seeing America that reassured white Americans that they were true-blue, wholesome, decent people with good home cooking and neighborliness. But that he was moved enough to grasp that a whole subset of people who were only Americans when there was a war on and not when there wasn't gave lie to that gee-whiz image he extolled. He had more than enough decency in him to understand that we couldn't be what we proclaimed ourselves to be to the world when we routinely and systematically betrayed it.
He seemed to be sympathetic to the counterculture to a degree because he painted a cover for an Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield album.
I never said he was a white supremacist, Lee. He was anything but as a human being. But his work made him an inadvertent one given its ultimately negative impact on American culture. Why we create isn’t always the same as what a society decides your work means.
I stand corrected. My apologies.
I noted after the fact, "inadvertent white supremacist."
There's no doubt that a lot of white people took for granted that they were at the top of the social food chain and saw themselves as the default people of America. On that score, it was natural for Rockwell to fall in line with that social view.
What's interesting right now is that the current administration is trying to re-establish that same image, when only a minority of people in it actually fit it fully or even partially. We have a president married to an immigrant who may at one point have been here illegally; a veep married to (gasp! shudder!) an Indian-American who (horror!) is a Hindu; a Jewish Deputy Chief of Staff, and big-pocked backers among whom are a gay immigrant, (until recently) an immigrant philanderer who has sired how-many-odd children and not be married to any one of the women who birthed them (and also had been at one point here illegally), and a Jewish tech giant with a Chinese wife.
That the veep now feels the pressure to "hope" his wife converts to Christianity after going this long without saying anything about it, until some people somewhere began whispering about it within earshot, makes it all something that only they have managed to hide from themselves in plain sight.
That it took Norman Rockwell to see through the hypocrisy over 60 years ago that they are incapable of seeing is testimony to how far backward America has gone.
I wish I could have known this before I saw a showing of his work at the Brooklyn Art Museum years ago. Thanks
You're welcome. I'm glad you took anything from the read.
Another important and insightful piece from Cole, and very timely. I can’t help thinking of this small girl, just six years old, being escorted to school by marshalls on the very day I reached my first birthday, on the other side of the world in Africa, in a country where white supremacists were already gearing up to take over from the British and had already stacked every branch and lowly office of government they could in order to achieve their goals. Little Ruby Bridges, breaking down walls, just as more were being built elsewhere.
Yep. They keep putting up the walls so we can keep knocking them down. So much effort, so many ruined lives.
I truly do despair of the human race sometimes. Such potential! And yet we waste it on creating such meaningless tat, and such vicious behaviour.
Excellent article. I didn’t know this painting. Your story of how this came about illuminates the time and the man.
Thanks for reading, Andrew!
Excellent piece Cole. Thanks for this connection to the year of my birth.
Thanks, John - and thanks for reading!
Well, Rockwell was more complex than I ever knew. Good for him using his platform to try and break through the ignorance. But Rockwell being gay well that really is a tempest in a tea pot.
I clicked over to this from the piece you wrote about the Argento experience, and the examples of so many works of physical art influencing film. This, all of this, both of these articles, the pictures, the chance to think things over, and feel what it all inspires, this all speaks to what I love about Substack, and in particular, about the things you contribute here. Thank you!
I've been working on this project for years. Hollywood is in a crisis point, though, so it's run into several obstacles. Fingers crossed.
That would be so good to see, Cole!
Cole, I grew up with a coffee table book of Rockwell’s art in “Puritan” New England. Massachusetts has a patriotic vibe that can be both liberal and conservative at the same time and also elitist. It’s the only place in America where I don’t feel my pulse quicken when I see an American flag because it always felt like a genuine love or pride without the connotations it holds today. I did not recognize or receive the white culture messages growing up from Rockwell’s art but glad we had the image of all races as part of the coffee table book. Subliminal, maybe but it didn’t stick. In the same era of the 80s I didn’t recognize misogynistic behavior either. Jeez, I feel like I’m writing an essay here! Haha
In summary, I think it’s an important story to be told and hope it gets picked up.
Thanks, Shelley. I don't think most of us notice a lot when we're younger. Even young adults. We might sense it, but we don't know how to articulate it.
Agree!