Rockwell Lecture, 1949
A recorded address to art students gives a snapshot of what he was thinking at the height of his career.
Here’s a rare gem from the vault for my Substack friends.
Norman Rockwell gave this talk at the Art Center school in 1949. With his characteristic wit and storytelling ability, he has the students mesmerized. Well aware of his standing in relation to the art world, he shares a detailed description of his process. He manages to be funny and serious at the same time.
Thank you for sharing this. It's hard to imagine the personality behind the works that happened before we were born and before people became so accessible via video interviews and the like. I had a poster of the Umpire painting he was discussing on my bedroom wall when I was a kid, and I loved staring at the faces and taking in all the details.
I felt SO validated when he said that when he went to a talk by an artist he wanted to know "do you stand up or sit when you paint - just mundane things like that". Amen Mr. Rockwell, Amen.