Who Is Norman Rockwell?

Norman Rockwell was an artist in the mid 20th century who was famous for his illustrations on the front cover of The Saturday Evening Post where he displayed his ability to create for almost 50 years. Although he was a more than talented artist he described himself as an illustrator more than an artist. Rockwell would have agreed with Clive Bell who argued there was a difference between art and illustration. Rockwell was right in containing himself to illustration due to his style, incentives, and the tone of his works but Rockwell still deserves every ounce of credit due because of his elaborate, insightful, and self aware pieces.

Rockwell was an amazing artist, he proved multiple times that he was just as good as any other artist out there. Rockwell, however, seemed to not be focused on creating “fine art” more he was focused on conveying messages over emotions to the reader. When looking at a rockwell piece little to no emotions are evoked other than curiosity on what this illustration is about. That was one of the main things Clive Bell discussed. For art to be art you must get a sense of subjective beauty, which he says is achieved through formats related Significant Form. Rockwell seems to enjoy separating himself with most
As where most artists have the freedom to tackle whichever concept or idea they soever choose. Rockwell was for the most part constrained to whatever the major headline was or what the magazine wanted to cover for that issue. He was working a job in a sense where an artist was working for him or herself. He was never truly allowed true creative freedom in a majority of his works just simply due to the fact his topic to illustrate was already pre-decided. Although his skills and resulting creations are still some of the most unprecedented in the art world, the realm in which he was a allowed to operate required him to be more to the point and less