Rockwell the sotto voce art critic

I have a great appreciation of Norman Rockwell and his works. He is one of the great visual story-tellers.

Among his stories is The Connoisseur

Click to enlarge.

The story is told here.

The January 13, 1962 cover of The Saturday Evening Post features an older man eying a painting that looks like Jackson Pollock at his most…drippy. The painter? Norman Rockwell.

Called The Connoisseur, the painting is a mix of art criticism (this is what we’re forced to look at now!) and bravado (but I can do it too!). It mixes Jackson Pollock’s trademark drip painting with Rockwell’s trademark illustrations. Pollock, of course, famously painted with the canvas on the floor.

The catch to Rockwell’s painting? He did it the same way.

According to the Norman Rockwell Museum, Rockwell rearranged his entire studio in 1961. He painted the abstract image first, on the floor like Pollock, and then combined the man and Pollock in his final painting.