Triple Self-Portrait
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ Bogart 1995, pp. 1–2
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Gouveia, Georgette (July 3, 2001). "Rockwell Revisted". The Journal News. White Planes, New York. p. 3E. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ a b c Solomon 2013, p. 336
- ^ Bogart 1995, p. 2
- ^ Halpern 2006, p. 47
- ^ Bogart 1995, p. 3
- ^ Galloway, Alexander R. (Autumn 2008). "The Unworkable Interface". New Literary History. 39 (4): 941. ISSN 0028-6087. JSTOR 20533123.
Bibliography[edit]
- Bogart, Michele H. (1995). Artists, Advertising, and the Borders of Art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Halpern, Richard (2006). Norman Rockwell: the Underside Of Innocence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Solomon, Deborah (2013). American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell. New York: Picador. ISBN 978-0374113094.