http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/2010/11/rockwell-flirts-with-art-history/ The NCMA Blog Wed, 15 May 2013 21:18:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/2010/11/rockwell-flirts-with-art-history/#comment-42363 Slice Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:07:06 +0000 http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/?p=2226#comment-42363 Nicely done! You've hit the proverbial nail in pointing out the voyeuristic undertone of Brockhurst's painting of the adolescent girl looking at sexually awakening self in the mirror. I would only have added that among the many virtues of Rockwell's work is that his images, even the most provocative among them, do not evoke that sense of shame or guilt in the viewer. There is no voyeuristic impulse there. While it could be argued that as an illustrator for a mainstream magazine he was forced to suppress such impulses, I think instead that this purity is part of his genius, as we are able to view the scene unfolded before us with an openness and clarity that is nearly impossible to achieve when viewing the same subject as painted by Brockhurst. And this is no criticism of Brockhurst; the two artists have different intentions -- the one to illuminate the inner life of his subject, the other to illuminate the socio-cultural conditioning or moral bearing of the viewer. Nicely done! You’ve hit the proverbial nail in pointing out the voyeuristic undertone of Brockhurst’s painting of the adolescent girl looking at sexually awakening self in the mirror. I would only have added that among the many virtues of Rockwell’s work is that his images, even the most provocative among them, do not evoke that sense of shame or guilt in the viewer. There is no voyeuristic impulse there. While it could be argued that as an illustrator for a mainstream magazine he was forced to suppress such impulses, I think instead that this purity is part of his genius, as we are able to view the scene unfolded before us with an openness and clarity that is nearly impossible to achieve when viewing the same subject as painted by Brockhurst. And this is no criticism of Brockhurst; the two artists have different intentions — the one to illuminate the inner life of his subject, the other to illuminate the socio-cultural conditioning or moral bearing of the viewer.

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