The movie The American Portrait by Norman Rockwell first presents a portrait of the famous Norman Rockwell. Rockwell has been credited for carrying out magnificent oil paintings in a small American town. These paintings had a very attractive and amazing final outlook that portrayed a high degree of creativity and symbolism. Rockwell’s power in artistic creativity is evident when he appears on the cover pages of many magazines over time. The creativity and sensitivity to details that the paintings in the movie portray present the artist with a taste and value for high-caliber paintings. The movie shows some of the best artistic works by Norman. These works were very variable and were sought after by many who accept and value aesthetics in artistic work. The movie, which is a 60 minutes documentary, to a large extent through the various artistic works portray, shows the actual character and the life of the artist in general.
As Syre explained, images and painting have over time spoken louder and clearer than words. Though a painting is not an object, it has a powerful visual and mental message that it portrays. Such is a description that would be attached to the paintings of Lorna Simpson. According to Syre, a painting elicits different interpretations due to its hidden meaning. For example, a photograph of a woman seated on a chair and wearing a brown suit (fig 24) is likely to be interpreted differently by different individuals. To add to that, Simpson had earlier described black women in America as people who are treated by society as if they had no identity, personality, or individuality. To a large extent, Simpson in this photograph is taken to criticize the stereotyping that women have suffered over time. Comparing this to the Norman Rockwell paintings as portrayed in the movie, there are distinct similarities as well as differences.
The most evident similarity is the theme of addressing culture. Most paintings done by Rockwell tend to champion and encourage people to take pride in their culture however different it might be. Simpson’s photographs, on the other hand, have been portrayed to attack the culture of stereotyping as explained above. The theme of culture is therefore very common in both, though it is presented in different dimensions.
Lorna presents the photographs in a creative way that might not outrightly portray the gender and personality of the image being presented in the photograph. The brown suit and the black complexion might lead to a conclusion that the image presented is of a black man. The word female as it has been added to the photos might be taken to be critical of the viewer’s perception, and imagination. The posture of the photo looks more like that of a man even though Simpson gives a contrary perception. The ‘our own time’ effect is then brought out in the thinking that stereotyping in women’s dressing and postures have changed over time to leave a slim line between the male-female outlook. On the other hand, Rockwell’s paintings may not be critical about portraying creativity. Rather, they might be thought to be more educative or championing the acceptance of diversity that currently makes our own time. Modernization according to the paintings, should not swallow the identity presented by culture, instead, it should strengthen the cultural backgrounds of every individual.
Works cited
An American Portrait. Dir. Norman Rockwell. Blockbuster, 1993.
Syne, Henry. A word of art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004.