Norman Rockwell

During a visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum, there was a gallery discussion in which the artists' techniques were presented. His characterizations were created by specifically posing his models with the positioning and expressions that he wanted to portray. During the modeling sessions, he would take hundreds of photos of the characters and then paint from the photos.

His pictures are so realistic, and detailed that they are a bit like photographs, except far more perfect than you could hope to capture in a candid picture. Here are some examples, I can't put any here directly due to copyright issues.

His studio (roof of the building pictured) was relocated intact from downtown Stockbridge to the grounds of the museum outside of the Massachusetts town. The inside was left just as it was when he last used it. And, in the basement of the museum were 100s of covers from the Saturday Evening Post that he did over the year. The original art was on display, and I was surprised by how large the paintings were (perhaps 4-5 feet high). This was so there would be room for all the details that he wanted to include.

Seeing all of the personality in the works, it made me want to take it as inspiration for some of my street photography and I will be trying to focus on special moments if I can. Looking through pictures I've taken previously, these are the ones that I think are most like a Norman Rockwell painting.

Old Gentlemen in Central Park

The Deal