Barth Keck is an English teacher and assistant football coach who also teaches courses in journalism and media literacy at Haddam-Killingworth High School. Email Barth here
As my wife and I recently toured the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., I learned something I never knew about the artist: He was painstakingly meticulous when painting his iconic scenes of Americana.
Museum archivist Venus E. Van Ness explained, “The level of authentic detail that Rockwell insisted on in his paintings was extraordinary: It would not be unusual for him to have his photographer take more than 100 reference photos for a single painting. He would use original props, sometimes having items shipped in.”
Moreover, “He would often have photos developed at three different exposures so that he could detect the varying levels of detail depending on brightness. He would also frequently try out multiple models trying to find the one that had the exact look that he wanted to depict. The whole process was quite labor intensive and could last several days.”
I left the museum wondering if there are any Norman Rockwells left in our digitized, hurry-up world.
See the complete story at CT News Junkie.
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