Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg [Hardcover]

Virginia Mecklenburg (Author), Todd McCarthy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2010

Telling Stories, based on the Rockwell collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, is the first book to chart the connections between Rockwell’s iconic depictions of American life and the movies. Rockwell, the quintessential American mythmaker of the 20th century, was a storyteller on a par with the great Hollywood directors of his time, and touched the lives of the two most successful directors of our day. Within Rockwell’s art, the fantasies and foibles of ordinary people are given life, central among them the themes of love of country, the sanctity of family, and the value of personal honor. Telling Stories, which accompanies an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is richly illustrated with Rockwell images, photographs, and film stills.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Virginia M. Mecklenburg is a senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Among her books are Modern Masters, Edward Hopper: The Watercolors, and Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, which won the Alfred H. Barr Jr. award in 1997.

 

Todd McCarthy is the longtime chief film critic for Variety. His books include Kings of the Bs, Howard Hawks, and Fast Women: The Legendary Ladies of Racing. He won an Emmy Award for writing the documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Abrams (July 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810996510
• ISBN-13: 978-0810996519
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 1.3 x 12 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing stories July 20, 2010

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

If you are really lucky you will be able to go to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC to see the Norman Rockwell Telling Stories exhibit, and walk around smiling like the crowds of people do that see it. This book is the next best thing; it is a 12"x9" heavy coffee table book, done mostly with colour illustrations and black and white photos and pencil drawings. It accurately reproduces the paintings and illustrations of not only the exhibit but others of Rockwell's.
Lucas reflects the Rockwell viewpoint in his and Spielberg's film ideology. "When we were in film school, we would say, we're not making movies about the way things are; we're making films about the way things should be." Rockwell's pictures tell an idealized view of America and there is a running commentary on each of the pictures and how they came into being. There are some personal thoughts of Spielberg's and Lucas on some of the pictures in the narrative. Each picture has titles and includes the date, who owns it, size and what the medium is.

There are several pages in the beginning of the book labeled "The Mythmakers" that would have been better served by using the first person narrative that is shown in a film at the Smithsonian exhibit, which includes Lucas and Spielberg's thoughts on Rockwell and their collections. The film also tells how they do not clash with each other in purchasing Rockwell's works - interesting in that, one painting ' Happy Birthday', Lucas owns the pencil drawing and Spielberg owns the oil.

There are more illustrations and information than what is given in the exhibit, so even if you are fortunate enough to see it, you would be well served by this book; as would anyone interested in Americana, the ideals of the 20th century and of course Rockwell.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing December 2, 2010

By David Keith

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was expecting this large book to have lots of high quality LARGE reproductions of the art. This book is more about the text than showing the art. Most of the images are pretty small. Debating about returning for a refund.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The stories behind Rockwell's canvases September 23, 2010

By Jean E. Pouliot

Format:Hardcover

Note: The George Lucas/Steven Spielberg connection to this book may be smart marketing, but is its least interesting aspect. Aside from contributing many of the photos and drawings for the book, they are hardly mentioned. What is worthy of discussion is the way that Rockwell painted, often by posing his friends and neighbors in period costumes, then having them photographed in various poses. It was marvelous to see a painting develop from an idea, to a series of photos, to a drawing and then to a full work in oil. "The Runaway," Rockwell's well-known painting of an arrant lad being counseled by a burly state cop, is accompanied by three of the black-and-white photos of the pair in various poses at a soda counter. I was fascinated to see what Rockwell retained (the cop's wide shoulders and kind intentions; the kid's upturned, innocent face) and what he discarded (the model who posed as the soda jerk). This gave me an insight into Rockwell's judgment as an artist.

For the most part, I found Virginia Mecklenburg's text enjoyable and informative. While she could occasionally lapse into art world otherworldliness, her text was normally straightforward and brought out element of the paintings that were easily missed at first glance. For instance, the different-sized skyscrapers in the background of "Window Washer" did not just set the stage, but were a wickedly pointed commentary about the virility of the painting's two male protagonists. Mecklenburg also brought out the many levels that Rockwell worked on in his paintings. Paintings like "Back to Civvies," showing a recent veteran of World War II trying on his old high school jacket, were more than just sentimental, showing the return of the boy-become-man. The painting also, in the "boyish" model airplanes on the hero's bureau top, paid homage to the evolution of aircraft during the war.

Skip the tendentious sections at the end of the book, but pay close attention to wonderful expositions of an under-appreciated artist whose work still attracts and inspires.