with a deep and nuanced appreciation of the American identity. It took me a long time to understand that.

If all you see in that painting is cloying sentimentalism you obviously need more time, too.

and share it...

sP

His art always had a just-beneath-the-surface pain to it, at least to me (though the notion that aren't can't be joyous is a silly affectation of our age). I think the comparisons I hear to crap like Kincaid are absurd.

the barely hidden pain and a sort of desperation that seems born of the Great Depression.

Toughness, too, of the mean sort. Or you could see simple devotion; those slightly puffed out cheeks are telling you not to though...

and technically he was more than accomplished.

He's not a favorite of mine, but he wasn't some Kincaid type hack, that's for sure.

The old woman and the kid are praying and the youngish guys are looking on kind of bemused and smoking.

Modernists preceded by a few from the Ashcan School such as Edward Hopper.

Modernists of the New York School as well as their Pop Art descendants, represent a period when America was truly the center of modern art.

The list includes, in no particular order, Warhol. Lindquist, Reinhardt. Olitzki, Still, Rothko, De Kooning, Pollock, Newman and that is just the painters. I could go on.

Rockwell was a magazine illustrator. He was a good one but he was not an artist who contributed to the development of American art in the 20th century. He is the favorite artist of people who have not studied American art history in any detail and think that their personal taste counts as art criticism.

And his work is cloying and sentimental. A string of mushy odes to patriotism and corn pone piety.

Last edited Thu Dec 5, 2013, 12:57 PM - Edit history (1)

the product of Clement Greenburg's promotion of post war American artistic ascendency. Be that as it may, the case of Pollock stands on its own. Drip painting was an imaginative leap out of easel painting and represents a real historical break. Post painterly abstraction, pop and minimalism would have been impossible without it.

That being said there are a number of great painters in the group I listed. By that I mean not just important but technically proficient.

I see that in O'Keefe and Hopper, and in Dali & Monet & Warhol. When you see a Van Gogh in person you understand why the gut next to you is tearing up. When visiting the art gallery at the U. of Florida, I viewed a Monet landscape. It could have been a dove-hunting field not 20 miles away.

An artist friend despaired that with photoshopping and CGEs, the "traditional" art he knew would go obsolete.

Or become a Rockwell?

How pretentious can one get!

The "illustrator" captured emotion, life. Americana. Homecoming Marine tells a story in the useless, talentless "Illustration"
WAIT! Michelangelo attended the New York School of modern Art???? So he is not a simple "Illustrator"

"Illustrator" (dripping sarcasm) not an artiste!!!!

the market will crash and the painting will be worth a fraction of what was paid.

beanie babies...

sP

Not a good comparison.

it is difficult to know just how twisted someone is...

sP

Next up, we'll compare Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' to Archie comic books to better maintain the absurd and irrational analogy part of our day.

Or at least the attempt was being made... regardless of whether successful or not is a different story.

(Insert rationalization here...)

Surely disputing whether or not he was a decent artist and a decent human being will distract you for literally minutes.

Next up - The Everglades Whales - Poor victims of ecological harm or shameless attention whores.

Bryant

Rich Mother Fuckers have too much fucking money!

The whole top end art market is like this. There are people with so much money that when a big piece comes up for sale, if it is a Warhol or Bacon or Rockwell, they just want it in their collection. And they want to beat the other collectors. It's chump change to them.
This is what a world with so much wealth at the top looks like.

Steve Martin sold one of yours for $26 million.

but I don't see any of that money, cause I'm dead.

Rockwell is the most famous American artist, the most liked American artist, and his originals are wonderful objects. He had some remarkable skills that reproduction doesn't convey well and was a spectacular painter in the 1930s. (His later, more famous work, are less wonderful, but still having some moments.)

So it is not irrational for his work to be super expensive, even if not one's cup of tea.

A large and iconic Rockwell has been an eight-figure painting for years. This fits the bill. This is not a bizarre result, though it is a record