Lot Essay
With its timeless themes of patriotism, youth, and democracy, Norman Rockwell's Guiding Influence embodies the American spirit. Painted by Rockwell in 1931, Guiding Influence reflects the values that defined American culture during the first half of the twentieth century.
Rockwell was commissioned to paint Guiding Influence to promote a nationwide essay contest celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington, the nation's first president and unfailing patriot. Rockwell chose Jack Parker, a fourteen-year-old high school student, to be his model for Guiding Influence, as Parker seemed to embody the appearance and values of the typical American boy. With his fair skin, white shirt, and clean-cut good looks, Parker projected the great optimism and potential of American youth.
After Rockwell completed Guiding Influence, the United States Congress passed a bill appropriating funds to reproduce five million lithographic posters of the painting which were then distributed in the nation's high schools to promote the essay contest. Later, in 1932, Sears, Roebuck & Co. published the painting on the cover of its spring catalogue with a circulation of 8,500,000.
Guiding Influence remained in the Sears, Roebuck & Co. collection, hanging in the executive offices of the company until 1943. At that time Parker's mother, Mrs. Claude A. Parker, wrote to A. S. Barrows, president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. requesting to purchase the painting, as her son Jack, then a quartermaster on an American minesweeper, had been called to serve in the United States Navy. Barrows replied by wire, "While we have never considered any of our paintings available, by purchase or otherwise, under these circumstances we consider it an honor and privilege to be able to present your son's picture to you." The painting was presented to Mrs. Parker in January 1944 by A. T. Cushman, the California District Manager of Sears, Roebuck & Co. As a soldier fighting in World War II, Parker lived up to the virtues expressed in Guiding Influence, volunteering to defend and protect the very freedoms that George Washington represented.
The appeal of Rockwell's art is due in part to its affinity with real Americans, as the artist selected models that represented the values of the themes that he painted. Jack Alexander wrote in 1946 of Rockwell's subjects, "Rockwell's men are not Hollywood heroes, his girls are not Powers models and his boys are not flaxen-haired angels. They are real people . . . They are people who have been thwarted and have had their small triumphs; who have hungered and sometimes feasted; who have spoken their minds in meeting and have prayed, in the confidence that their words were as important as those of a president or king; who have kept alive in their hearts the hope of a constantly improving world." (Norman Rockwell, Illustrator, New York, 1946, p. xxii)
Guiding Influence is filled with elements that recall the childhood of a real American boy -- the figure is seated at a table surrounded by an apple and history books with his football and helmet nearby. He sits on a simple ladder-back chair, and at his feet sleeps a faithful dog patiently waiting for his master to finish his work at hand. The placement of the young figure in the foreground with his clearly lighted face reveals his thought-filled expression as he contemplates the great virtues of Washington. The figure of the president dominates the upper portion of the painting, his powerful image serving as a guiding influence for all American youth. An eagle soars out and across the space, a clear metaphor for the American spirit and the great virtues of democracy.
Rockwell was commissioned to paint Guiding Influence to promote a nationwide essay contest celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington, the nation's first president and unfailing patriot. Rockwell chose Jack Parker, a fourteen-year-old high school student, to be his model for Guiding Influence, as Parker seemed to embody the appearance and values of the typical American boy. With his fair skin, white shirt, and clean-cut good looks, Parker projected the great optimism and potential of American youth.
After Rockwell completed Guiding Influence, the United States Congress passed a bill appropriating funds to reproduce five million lithographic posters of the painting which were then distributed in the nation's high schools to promote the essay contest. Later, in 1932, Sears, Roebuck & Co. published the painting on the cover of its spring catalogue with a circulation of 8,500,000.
Guiding Influence remained in the Sears, Roebuck & Co. collection, hanging in the executive offices of the company until 1943. At that time Parker's mother, Mrs. Claude A. Parker, wrote to A. S. Barrows, president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. requesting to purchase the painting, as her son Jack, then a quartermaster on an American minesweeper, had been called to serve in the United States Navy. Barrows replied by wire, "While we have never considered any of our paintings available, by purchase or otherwise, under these circumstances we consider it an honor and privilege to be able to present your son's picture to you." The painting was presented to Mrs. Parker in January 1944 by A. T. Cushman, the California District Manager of Sears, Roebuck & Co. As a soldier fighting in World War II, Parker lived up to the virtues expressed in Guiding Influence, volunteering to defend and protect the very freedoms that George Washington represented.
The appeal of Rockwell's art is due in part to its affinity with real Americans, as the artist selected models that represented the values of the themes that he painted. Jack Alexander wrote in 1946 of Rockwell's subjects, "Rockwell's men are not Hollywood heroes, his girls are not Powers models and his boys are not flaxen-haired angels. They are real people . . . They are people who have been thwarted and have had their small triumphs; who have hungered and sometimes feasted; who have spoken their minds in meeting and have prayed, in the confidence that their words were as important as those of a president or king; who have kept alive in their hearts the hope of a constantly improving world." (Norman Rockwell, Illustrator, New York, 1946, p. xxii)
Guiding Influence is filled with elements that recall the childhood of a real American boy -- the figure is seated at a table surrounded by an apple and history books with his football and helmet nearby. He sits on a simple ladder-back chair, and at his feet sleeps a faithful dog patiently waiting for his master to finish his work at hand. The placement of the young figure in the foreground with his clearly lighted face reveals his thought-filled expression as he contemplates the great virtues of Washington. The figure of the president dominates the upper portion of the painting, his powerful image serving as a guiding influence for all American youth. An eagle soars out and across the space, a clear metaphor for the American spirit and the great virtues of democracy.