Scrutinizing Rockwell in Fort Lauderdale

While it appears I have abandoned this blog, that is not the case. I had limited energy in the UK to create daily posts and no internet connectivity in Croatia. Upon returning home I succumbed to a 5 week illness and a major family project that prevented me from posting. I do wish to cover subjects of artistic reference regarding my trip and I will return to that at a later time. For the time, I would like to post on artistic matters that are more current.


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I am currently in Miami Beach and I was fortunate to catch the travelling exhibit “American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell “ at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art. 

Rockwell is one of my heroes and I scrutinized his paintings closely. So closely in fact that I was accosted by one of the guards towards the end ( thankfully) of a 3 hour visit and told to step away from the paintings and maintain a 4 foot distance. I thought this was outrageous since, as a perpetual student of art, this would not allow me to study the brush strokes from such a distance.   Accordingly, I filled out a comment card complaining bitterly informing the powers that be, both verbally and in writing actually, that at the National Gallery in London, an institution much more august than theirs, I was allowed to examine paintings closely.

The irony is that the image used on the home page advertising the exhibit, and indeed one of the paintings in the exhibit,  is Rockwell’s “The Art Critic” showing an individual almost nose to nose with a Gallery painting examining it closely with a magnifying glasss.

During the 2 hours and 45 minutes where I was able to get a good look, I made a number of mental notes and really learned a lot about how Rockwell achieved his effects. More about that in the next post.

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