Customer Reviews

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera

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I bought this book after reading David Kamp's review in the November 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, which also has good background information on Rockwell. I suggest reading that article for a lot more information than I will provide here.

The book itself discusses the photographic process Rockwell used to plan his paintings. It includes interviews with models and a lot of background information on the technical processes used.

This all turns out to be much more interesting than it might sound. One can see exactly which details Rockwell kept and discarded from the photographs. Of particular interest is how important each detail in the photos is, and the extent to which Rockwell worked to get them right.

There is also some interesting commentary on the social milieu and attitudes of the time. Rockwell in some ways was conciously creating an American mythos, but it was a mythos very grounded in actual fact.

Some of the original paintings or covers are reproduced in a small format (and sometimes not at all) but these are generally easy to find elsewhere, so it is not a serious flaw.

All in all, this was a thought-provoking and educational book that is sure to increase readers' understanding and appreciation both of Rockwell and of painting generally.

Length:: 0:26 Mins

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera is a book that brings you behind the scenes to look at how the legendary artist uses photographs for his paintings. It's filled with paintings and the reference photographs from the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Apparently, Rockwell used live models for all of his work. Every model will be meticulously costumed and posed until he could get his perfect composition. Preparing the shot almost seems like an art form itself as he tirelessly puts in all the details required, sometimes to the extend of staging elaborate settings, like deciding the items to display on the table behind models. Every painting is well conceived and composed in his mind even before he lays paint on canvas. If you've read any biography of him, you won't be surprised by his dedication.

Included in this book is a great selection of his paintings and the photos he used, put side by side for comparison. The author Ron Schick has done a great job providing commentary to all the illustrations, through interviews with people who have worked with Rockwell. There's plenty of insight and a few lessons to be learned on posing models. You'll see what are the details Rockwell retains and those that he leaves out.

This is an inspiring book recommended to all admirers of Norman Rockwell's paintings, and to artists who want to learn more on using references from the master painter.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

This book provides an elaborate and captivating look into the creative process followed by one of the most truly American of artists.

A gifted storyteller, Norman Rockwell made use of photography to expand on a theme and create a realistic setting for his story illustrations. With "props bought, borrowed or rented", he constructed a scene that was detailed and natural, peopled by neighbors and friends. These scenes were authentic simply because the people were real. He portrayed American life with gusto and great fidelity.

Known as the "kid with the camera eye", the camera was the instrument used by Rockwell to serve as interface of the eye and the canvas, capturing the nuances and details of a scene which he later edited to reflect his own vision. Much like today's art director, he created a setting, cut and pasted some parts, then filled them with action and color to obtain the end-result he wanted.

These visual images Rockwell created with the help of the camera resonated with the ordinary American. With titles like: "Merry Christmas, Grandma... we came in our new Plymouth" (1951); "Maternity Waiting Room " (1946); "Leaving the Hospital" (1954) these domestic vignettes realistically conveyed the excitement, anxiety, and various emotions of people settling into family life after almost a decade of war and deprivation. The automobile, the newest symbol of prosperity, brought a new way of life and clearly captivated him and his audience.
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (October 22, 2009)224 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Norman Rockwell is an American icon. His style is easily identifiable, but I had no idea of the processes he used to produce his paintings until I read Behind the Camera.

At first, Rockwell posed his ideas using live models and made preliminary sketches to paint from later. But this proved difficult, as it was hard for the models to hold the expressions that are a hallmark of his style. The next step - photography.

"Photography opened a door to the keenly observed realism that defines Norman Rockwell's art."

But Rockwell struggled with the idea of using photography as a tool to prepare for his painting. Indeed, he took criticism from some of his peers for this decision, but realized he could capture moments in time quickly and reproduce them at leisure.

Thankfully, those photographs have been kept in the Massachusetts Norman Rockwell Museum. This book was produced with those photographic archives.

It is utterly fascinating to see the finished painting on one side of the page and then view the photographs that he used to achieve the look he wanted. Rockwell always used everyday people. All of the props used in a picture/painting were authentic. Details were very important to him.

"I love to tell stories in pictures."

And his pictures do tell stories. The expressions and the details make his work fairly leap off the page. You have to explore every corner. Many times Rockwell painted himself in as an extra.

There are detailed descriptions accompanying every plate. The book itself progresses linearly, from his early work, though to his last completed work - a self portrait in 1976.

The book is beautiful, produced on heavy, glossy stock with hundreds of images. A wonderful coffee table book and one to share. I'm taking mine over when I visit my grandmother. I know she'll enjoy looking at remembered images.

Far more interesting than you would imagine. The interviews with the models are deeply compelling and provide a lot of insight into Rockwell's way of working. I first saw this book in a bookstore while with a 7yr old. Both of us stood there and looked at every single page. I'm generally not a fan of behind-the-scenes books, but this one is exceptional.

There have been many books on Norman Rockwell over the years, but Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera is the first to shed light upon the reference photographs from which he often painted. Published in 2009 this book features a selection of images from among some 18,000 black and white negatives that are held by the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Admirers of Rockwell's art should consider this book unmissable, given the fresh ground that it covers. It will also have some appeal to illustrators and portraitists, because of the description and examples provided on Rockwell's working methods.

Why did someone with such a sharp drawing and drafting ability take such heavy recourse to use of photography? It should be understood that Norman Rockwell laboured under huge pressure to produce paintings at a rapid rate to meet deadlines of magazine editors and to satisfy other lucrative commercial commissions for his art. To spare time from doing dozens of preparatory drawings for each painting, Rockwell eventually began instead to use photographs and select among them before choosing a final composition. The photos did not displace the need for models, costumes, props or any of the rigour of painting preparation, like sketches and colour studies. But these snapshots did ensure great efficiencies: they saved re-sittings by models, avoided movements of sunlight; and made possible a far more phenomenal output in one man's career than otherwise could have been conceivable.

Author Ron Schick, an expert in photographic art, explains the considerable efforts that went into composing the photos and what Rockwell was aiming to conjure up. It is a tale of an artist scouting locations, assembling props, and amusingly positioning and directing the models like actors in a play. This book shows some of the tricks used by Rockwell for getting the best out of life models, including using stacks of books to support the feet of figures as they feigning leaps, running, or other exertions "in motion". We also see how folding screens in varying shades were used to help the artist accurately capture the tones and outline of a model, without distraction from background clutter.

The book is well designed. The author and publishers juxtapose paintings opposite source photographs, sometimes showing how several separately photographed models might be assembled on canvas into one composition. It becomes apparent how the artist selectively modified and spliced poses, or added or varied details in clothing and props, to drive the narrative power of his final paintings.

The visual extravaganza in this book is well supported by pithy and pertinent stories about the featured artworks, spiced up with quotes from Rockwell, his models and other associates (Rockwell was a little abashed at his use of photography, but he has written several accounts of his working methods for the benefit of fellow illustrators who have sought to learn his secrets). Schick threads the book together with writing of his own that is informative and perceptive. The book is a good length at over 200 pages, but Rockwell was such a prolific artist that it is hard not to wish for even more of his paintings in this enjoyable monograph. This is an abridged review from my Art Book News blog at blogspot.

I half-heard the glowing review of this book on NPR on the drive home the other afternoon, and I was out Christmas shopping today. I saw this book in the "New Releases" at Barnes and Noble and decided to flip through it while having a cup of coffee. I sat there for an hour and a half.

While the price of this book was a little more than I could afford today, I cannot recommend it on my "brief scan read" more highly. What surprised me was simply this. This was not some remastered coffee-table retrospective of Rockwell's work. The author used interviews with Rockwell's models and indeed the artist's own commentary on his creative process - which was often labored and sometimes painfully long - to get "just the right images" down in both mind and sketch before he sat down to paint and draw the final product. I suppose that the detail in Rockwell's paintings always caught my attention, but in my opinion, the genius here lies in creating images of such seeming immediacy and spontenaiety that suggest nothing of the extensive process that lay behind. And this information from the portions of the book I read was nothing less than illuminating, and will allow me, I think, to appreciate Rockwell in an entirely new way. I intend to buy my own copy.

I also took the time to examine the construction of the book. The binding of the two I looked at seemed solid and I did not see any spine separations on even one copy that had obviously been thumbed through pretty heavily. I can say this, though. Because of the thick and slick construction of the leaves, this is not a book that will "stack" for any real period of time without likely degredation. The boards will likely slide out of place on the pages unless standard bookshelf storage or non-stack display is used. It's a fairly weighty book. But, the photos and repros are really fantastic and artfully chosen to accompany the text.

It also seems clear to me that while Schick in no way degrades or pooh-poohs Rockwell's "Saturday Evening Post" reputation, as well as he should not, he also sets out to tell the story of a Master who may have been "cute" in his imagination of the American mythos, but who also produced works of harrowing and poignant power. Rockwell was a realist master of the first rank, and Shick invites the public to see him as exactly that, no less. And from what I saw and read, he succeeds admirably.

As I mentioned, I am acquiring my own copy of this book when I am next paid. I cannot recommend more highly than that.

Recommended, no reservation (save the fact that I have not yet read the entire, which I disclose up front).

I just got a copy of "Norman Rockwell, Behind the Camera", reviewed in James Gurney's blog [...] Folks, this is a must-have book. Great reference, great inspiration, great learning tool. As a practicing illustrator, it will be something I return to again and again. As an appreciator of Rockwell's adept views of American idealism, this book is like coming home to a warm fire on a cold day. Recommended.

Norman Rockwell has become such an icon of American culture that people often overlook what a marvelous artist he is. He thoroughly researched his paintings, created many preliminary drawings and paintings, before the final painting was completed. Whether your like his brand of realism or not, you have to admire his giant talent.

This book focuses on the photographic images which Rockwell created in preparation for many of his paintings. Just comparing the original photos to the final paintings demonstrates that Rockwell was never a hack, only copying photographs, but was master storyteller and extraordinary artist.

This book sheds new light on a revered American painter, perhaps THE most exemplary American painter of his time.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for my copy of this most impressive book. I've always loved Norman Rockwell; I own some of his prints, and I have even visited his museum in Vermont. (He has another museum in Connecticut.)

This heavy volume satisfies my curiosity to find out the background of many of Rockwell's paintings. Any lover of art, Americana, or history would be pleased to own a copy. What a terrific gift idea! My copy is going on top of my living room coffee table for easy access.