Just before the Thanksgiving Holiday, I used these images of "Freedom from Want" by Norman Rockwell as prompts for an art criticism mini-lesson. I simply projected them, provided the following information for note-taking and asked students to work individually or in small groups to answer two questions before we discussed them as a class. I found it to be a simple, quick and effective art criticism "hook," and hope you do too. Background Information:
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades.
His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
Many contemporary artists consider his work trite or banal and refer to him as an "illustrator" rather than an "artist" or "painter," as an insult. However, Rockwell referred to himself as an illustrator.
Normal Rockwell created images illustrating The Four Freedoms first published in The Saturday Evening Post. The Office of War Information later issued the series as posters as an incentive for War bond purchasers. Many of these posters are still sold today.
The Four Freedoms are goals famously articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged by wife Eleanor Roosevelt and friend Jon Run, on January 6, 1941. In an address also known as the Four Freedoms speech, FDR proposed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy:
Source: Wikipedia
Questions:
Questions:
1) What are all the ways in which Rockwell communicated the concept of "Freedom from Want" in this image?
Make sure students notice details about the room (sparkling appearance, wall paper, artwork, etc.), as well as light quality, the fresh-scrubbed appearance of the family members along with their clothing and their expressions, grand parents presiding, the china/crystal, the crudite, etc. They should also notice that the table isn't laden with food, yet the turkey is enormous.
2) What pictorial strategies did Rockwell use to make us feel like we are a guest who has just walked in to join the feast?
Students should notice that the way the table is cropped makes it appear to extend into our space and that the way the male in the bottom right corner is turned to look makes it seem as though he heard us walk in and has turned to welcome us.
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