.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
To many people, The Saturday Evening Post and Norman Rockwell are synonymous. "For a majority of Americans who lived through the rapid growth and change of the twentieth century, the Rockwell covers represent an identifiable and comfortable image of life in the United States. The publication of a new Rockwell cover was cause for widespread anticipation and delight for millions of Americans. Had he never painted the thousands of other known covers, advertisements, illustrations and miscellaneous artwork, the 'Post' covers alone, it would seem, would have been enough to assure him the success and popularity he achieved as an illustrator." (L.N. Moffatt, "Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue", Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1986, p. 72)
During a forty-seven year tenure as chief illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell produced three-hundred and twenty-one covers. Throughout this extended period, the subject of youth was one of Rockwell's favorite themes. "Boy with Two Dogs (Raleigh Rockwell Travels)" is but exemplary of this motif. Painted for the September 28, 1929 magazine cover, the work depicts a young Mark Twain-esque runaway with his shabby dog stopping to pet Raleigh Rockwell, the artist's collie. The young boy, a symbol of middle-America, seems content to simply sit and pet his new friend. "Boy with Two Dogs (Raleigh Rockwell Travels) touches on "the virtue that he [Rockwell] admires...and because he illustrates [his paintings] using familiar people in familiar settings with wonderful accuracy, he describes the American Dream." (T. Buechner, "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," exhibition catalogue, New York, 1972, p. 13)
Norman Rockwell's portraits of America serve as both a faithful historical record of, and a tender tribute to, American popular culture. Indeed, both art connoisseurs and historians look to Rockwell's work as a barometer of the health of the American nation. Through wars, depression, and civil strife, Rockwell portrayed subjects from ordinary, everyday life. The scope of his appeal is still expanding as new generations live through the same quintessentially American types of experiences that Rockwell so faithfully depicted in his art. "For six decades, through two World Wars, the Great Depression, unprecedented national prosperity and radical social change, Norman Rockwell held up a mirror to America and reflected its identity through the portraits he painted of its people...Rockwell's paintings have done more than just sell magazines. They are in a large measure the visual memory of a nation." (V. Crenson, "Norman Rockwell's Portrait of America", New York, 1989, p. 9)
American illustration holds a special place within the context of American art. Before television entered the American home, newspapers and magazines were the primary news sources for the nation. The artists who illustrated these periodicals had a great deal of influence on public opinion and on the way Americans perceived their nation. Norman Rockwell did more than simply fulfill his commissions; He understood his advantageous position and put his best efforts into his important work. He stated: "No man with a conscience can just bat out illustrations. He's got to put all of his talent, all of his feeling into them. If illustration is not considered art, then that is something that we have brought upon ourselves by not considering ourselves artists. I believe that we should say, 'I am not just an illustrator, I am an artist.'" (as quoted in J. Goffman, The Great American Illustrators, New York, 1993, p. 122)
During a forty-seven year tenure as chief illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell produced three-hundred and twenty-one covers. Throughout this extended period, the subject of youth was one of Rockwell's favorite themes. "Boy with Two Dogs (Raleigh Rockwell Travels)" is but exemplary of this motif. Painted for the September 28, 1929 magazine cover, the work depicts a young Mark Twain-esque runaway with his shabby dog stopping to pet Raleigh Rockwell, the artist's collie. The young boy, a symbol of middle-America, seems content to simply sit and pet his new friend. "Boy with Two Dogs (Raleigh Rockwell Travels) touches on "the virtue that he [Rockwell] admires...and because he illustrates [his paintings] using familiar people in familiar settings with wonderful accuracy, he describes the American Dream." (T. Buechner, "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," exhibition catalogue, New York, 1972, p. 13)
Norman Rockwell's portraits of America serve as both a faithful historical record of, and a tender tribute to, American popular culture. Indeed, both art connoisseurs and historians look to Rockwell's work as a barometer of the health of the American nation. Through wars, depression, and civil strife, Rockwell portrayed subjects from ordinary, everyday life. The scope of his appeal is still expanding as new generations live through the same quintessentially American types of experiences that Rockwell so faithfully depicted in his art. "For six decades, through two World Wars, the Great Depression, unprecedented national prosperity and radical social change, Norman Rockwell held up a mirror to America and reflected its identity through the portraits he painted of its people...Rockwell's paintings have done more than just sell magazines. They are in a large measure the visual memory of a nation." (V. Crenson, "Norman Rockwell's Portrait of America", New York, 1989, p. 9)
American illustration holds a special place within the context of American art. Before television entered the American home, newspapers and magazines were the primary news sources for the nation. The artists who illustrated these periodicals had a great deal of influence on public opinion and on the way Americans perceived their nation. Norman Rockwell did more than simply fulfill his commissions; He understood his advantageous position and put his best efforts into his important work. He stated: "No man with a conscience can just bat out illustrations. He's got to put all of his talent, all of his feeling into them. If illustration is not considered art, then that is something that we have brought upon ourselves by not considering ourselves artists. I believe that we should say, 'I am not just an illustrator, I am an artist.'" (as quoted in J. Goffman, The Great American Illustrators, New York, 1993, p. 122)