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American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
|
- Sale 2105
Live
| Philadelphia
Dec 8 | 2:00 PM EST
Live
| Philadelphia
Sale 2105
| Philadelphia
| Philadelphia
Estimate$60,000 – $100,000
The present lot appears in the Norman Rockwell Online Catalogue Raisonné, the Definitive Catalogue of the artist's work originally compiled by Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell Museum, Director/CEO. It is also accompanied by a front cover of the March 17, 1956 Saturday Evening Post, on which the final painting is reproduced.
Provenance:
The Artist.
Collection of Mr. Dwight Davis, Sarasota, Florida, gift from the above, c. 1956.
Estate of Mr. Dwight Davis, Sarasota, Florida.
Lot Essay:
This study is a previously unknown preparatory work for Norman Rockwell’s Happy Birthday Miss Jones (School Teacher), which was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in March 1956. The painting was meant as a tribute to Rockwell’s own eighth-grade teacher who fostered his creative potential. The artist hired a model, Anne Braman, and used a real classroom in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to depict this playful and sentimental scene of everyday life.
The commonplace was Rockwell’s most enduring source of inspiration, so this affectionate portrayal of a schoolteacher in the humble but noble setting of the classroom is quintessentially representative of his aesthetic. However, Miss Jones herself is positioned slightly off center, which suggests that the image is just as much about celebrating the figure of the teacher as it is about bringing attention to the values dear to the American public in the 1950s.
The promise of education, as portrayed by Rockwell and disseminated through publications such as the Saturday Evening Post, was to ensure that the American people would continue to revere the values of patriotism, merit, and decency. These values are embodied here by a well-tuned combination of moral rectitude and light-heartedness. The verticality of Ms. Jones’s standing and towering figure over the horizontal rows of desks is subtly softened by playful details such as her bashful but gratified expression and demeanor, the messily placed items on her desk, and the peripheral bustle just outside the classroom.
Rockwell designed his paintings to be approachable and relatable, with little critical intermediary between the viewer and the image: there was little, if any, ambiguity about its takeaway. This straightforward relationship was reinforced by the context in which his audience encountered those images, thanks to the widespread circulation of magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post. While ubiquitous due to mass distribution, Rockwell’s iconography was often received in the comfortable setting of the home, guaranteeing a very intimate encounter, speaking directly to the psyche of the people.
To request further details about this lot, please email aveil@freemansauction.com
Adam Veil
VP, Head of Department, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
In overall very good condition. Executed directly on Artist's board. The board is sound, solid and lays very flat. The board itself lays flat on another, larger, piece of artist’s board, pencil inscribed, cartooned and signed by Norman Rockwell (see additional images). Once entirely unframed, we notice the composition is slightly off-centered, with wider margins along the work at the top and at right (vs thinner margins at left and at bottom, where there is almost no margin at all). Judging from the yellow-brown residue along all four margins, we suspect they were previously layered with glue/sticky varnish (we notice a remnant of brown paper at bottom right, in the said margin). While most has dried out, we notice a shiny coat along the extreme end of the bottom edge of the composition, as well as along the left outer edge (ultimately covered by the mat, and therefore unobtrusive). A few minor, and scattered, losses are visible at bottom center left -likely due to the old sticky agent (also covered by the mat when the piece is framed). Examination under UV light does not reveal any sign of inpainting (we notice a shiny varnish glowing inconsistently however). The work presents beautifully, with a lush palette and a nicely preserved impasto at times (see the whites). Minor evidence of paint contraction in certain areas, all very minimal (on the teacher’s desk, near the apple; on her blouse, as well as around the glasses she holds in her hand). With a few paintbrush hairs trapped in the paint at center right. At places, we notice signs of slight horizontal brushing/streaks, likely a result of the artist's working technique on a paint layer that was not entirely dry (see at bottom center across the students' desks as well as across the teacher's forehead - very minimal). Additional images available upon request.
Framed: 18 x 18 x 2 inches.
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Please email aveil@freemansauction.com for any additional information or questions you may have regarding this lot.
