Triple Self-Portrait. Norman Rockwell 1960. Norman Rockwell Museum.

Triple Self-Portrait is an oil painting by American illustrator Norman Rockwell created for the cover of the February 13, 1960, edition of The Saturday Evening Post.[1]

Description

Triple Self-Portrait is an oil painting on canvas measuring 34.5 by 44.5 inches (88 cm × 113 cm).[2] Set in a white void, it depicts a rear-view Rockwell sitting at an easel producing a self-portrait. A gold-framed mirror topped with an eagle is set up to the left on a chair; Rockwell can be seen in its reflection as a thin and bespectacled man.[3] On the chair in front of the mirror sits a glass of Coca-Cola and an open book.[4]

On the canvas in front of the illustrator is an unfinished sketch of himself in his idealized art style.[5] On the right side of the canvas Rockwell pinned self-portraits by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh, and Picasso.[6] A piece of paper with sketches sits on the left. In total, there are seven self-portraits depicted in the work.[3]

Reception

According to Michele Bogart, the painting shows that Rockwell saw himself as split between an artist and an illustrator.[7] According to Deborah Solomon, by not painting his eyes in the reflection, Rockwell shows that he rejects "the popular myth of artists as heroic seers".[4] Further, she sees the work as Rockwell's "manifesto" by depicting the way American Realism is divorced from the reality found in a mirror.[4] Alexander R. Galloway disagrees with Solomon's interpretation and reads the painting as avoiding questions about how artists build meaning instead of answering them.[8]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Bogart 1995, pp. 1–2
  2. ↑ Hales, Peter Bacon (Autumn 1995). "Surveying the Field: Artists Make Art History". Art Journal. 54 (3): 40. doi:10.2307/777581. ISSN 0004-3249. JSTOR 777581.
  3. 1 2 Gouveia, Georgette (July 3, 2001). "Rockwell Revisted". The Journal News. White Planes, New York. p. 3E. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Solomon 2013, p. 336
  5. ↑ Bogart 1995, p. 2
  6. ↑ Halpern 2006, p. 47
  7. ↑ Bogart 1995, p. 3
  8. ↑ Galloway, Alexander R. (Autumn 2008). "The Unworkable Interface". New Literary History. 39 (4): 941. ISSN 0028-6087. JSTOR 20533123.

Bibliography

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