I have loved studying this Norman Rockwell painting and reading about how and why it was created.
| |||
“The Gossips” by Norman Rockwell (1948)
Some say the painting was Rockwell’s revenge on a woman in Arlington, Vermont, who’d spread an ugly rumor about him. He re-created the life of the rumor, beginning with an elderly woman whispering about Rockwell to a neighbor. From there the tale takes wing, speeding through town from one eager gossip to the next, until it comes back to Rockwell himself, who confronts the rumor’s originator in the bottom right.
Painted in 1948, Rockwell had the idea for “The Gossips” twenty years earlier but couldn’t quite get the ending until he thought to picture himself as the subject of the gossips’ circle; he used his friends and neighbors in Arlington, Vermont as the other figures in the painting. Thousands of letters were sent to The Saturday Evening Post asking what the gossip was they were passing along, but an answer was never given.
After this picture appeared on the cover of the Post, the woman who started the gossip not only never spoke to Rockwell again, she actually moved away. The lady in the middle row, both the second and third face from the left, is portrayed by Mary Rockwell, the artist’s second wife and mother of his children. And, of course, the artist himself, Rockwell is on the bottom row, the second and third faces from the right.
The Gossip is a manipulation of Rockwell’s talent of facial expression, despite only revealing heads he is able to perfectly create the persona of each and every one of the conjured figures. So expressive is each face one can completely imagine the rest of the body; such attention to detail is paid, each character is given a token item of dress, a hat, glasses, reflecting of character.
Hands of course are used, consistently betraying conversation as they exclaim throughout the chain of gossip that ends amusingly right where it started. As with much of Rockwell’s art, the image illustrates an aspect of life, humorous and identifiable we immediately connect with the painting, as was of course the advertisement-fuelled aim.
Some say the painting was Rockwell’s revenge on a woman in Arlington, Vermont, who’d spread an ugly rumor about him. He re-created the life of the rumor, beginning with an elderly woman whispering about Rockwell to a neighbor. From there the tale takes wing, speeding through town from one eager gossip to the next, until it comes back to Rockwell himself, who confronts the rumor’s originator in the bottom right.
Painted in 1948, Rockwell had the idea for “The Gossips” twenty years earlier but couldn’t quite get the ending until he thought to picture himself as the subject of the gossips’ circle; he used his friends and neighbors in Arlington, Vermont as the other figures in the painting. Thousands of letters were sent to The Saturday Evening Post asking what the gossip was they were passing along, but an answer was never given.
After this picture appeared on the cover of the Post, the woman who started the gossip not only never spoke to Rockwell again, she actually moved away. The lady in the middle row, both the second and third face from the left, is portrayed by Mary Rockwell, the artist’s second wife and mother of his children. And, of course, the artist himself, Rockwell is on the bottom row, the second and third faces from the right.
The Gossip is a manipulation of Rockwell’s talent of facial expression, despite only revealing heads he is able to perfectly create the persona of each and every one of the conjured figures. So expressive is each face one can completely imagine the rest of the body; such attention to detail is paid, each character is given a token item of dress, a hat, glasses, reflecting of character.
Hands of course are used, consistently betraying conversation as they exclaim throughout the chain of gossip that ends amusingly right where it started. As with much of Rockwell’s art, the image illustrates an aspect of life, humorous and identifiable we immediately connect with the painting, as was of course the advertisement-fuelled aim.
No comments:
Post a Comment