Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Art and Beauty Tuesday--Norman Rockwell

Today is Art and Beauty Tuesday here at the Well, and this is a little extra bit of  art history with a big dose of American history thrown in.

This is a 1941 compilation from the FDR library.  At the beginning of the film, we see Norman Rockwell in the process of painting his "Four Freedoms" including the famous painting we see every year on Thanksgiving, "Freedom from Want."  Fascinating to see the models he used for the paintings--they were his neighbors.

The rest of the film shows FDR talking about the importance of war bonds in raising money for the war, and Eleanor visiting soldiers and telling a joke (albeit a bit racist from today's standpoint.)

Anyway, I thought the beginning of the film particularly interesting from an artistic standpoint.

2 comments:

TACParent said...

This was neat to see that Norman Rockwell used his neighbors as models. I guess I had it in my head that he just imagined what he painted. Very cool.

Staying in Balance said...

Wasn't that cool to see the original models?!

Dymphna's favorite quotes


"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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