Sunday, July 11, 2021

Norman Rockwell and Fantasy


     As anyone who grew up in the 50s with a Saturday Evening Post on their coffee table can tell you, it would be hard to find anything more quintessentially Amurican than Norman Rockwell. Until he discovered Civil Rights, his art was filled with the down-to-earth, everyday world of full station wagons and picnics.

     That’s what made the latest exhibit at the Rockwell Museum such fun. It was four rooms of fantasy art through the ages.

 

 

 

 


 Instead of bashful suitors or Thanksgiving tables, there were the comic book and sci-fi favorites of slathering dragons and busty victims. 


 

 

 

 

 

However, it also included art from the 1600s and illustrations from children’s fairy tales.


 

     There was also an unrelated outdoor sculpture exhibit, full of whimsy and joy even if you had no idea what the darn thing was about.



 

 

 

 

 

 But one I passed by was just plain sad: a limp umbrella on a depressing brown stem with a few rocks piled at the bottom. 


It looked like something composed of garage sale leftovers. I walked right by it to photograph its neighbor, but on my return, I paused long enough for a woman with Christopher Lloyd hair jammed under a bowler hat to come up to me.

“That one’s mine.”

“R-really? How exciting!”

I just couldn’t bring myself to say something like, It’s great!

 

6 comments:

  1. Good to remember that what you take away from art is what you brought to it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with you about the sad sculpture - and am not sure I would admit to it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love that fantasy sculpture and agree with you about the sad umbrella.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like a fun sort of art museum. Well, mostly. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is a weird exhibit.
    Alice in Wonderland always irritated me. She goes falling down rabbit holes and scrambling through looking glasses and all the while her stockings and apron stay neat and white.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.