“Barbershop Quartet”

FOR ROCKWELL, NOSTALGIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN a valid sentiment, and he has never been shy of exploiting its hold on the general public. When he painted this cover he was recalling an era that was already almost half a century in the past. That era may not have been quite as innocent and uncomplicated as he chose to portray it, but he convinces us of its reality by making the four singers seem so real. We can almost hear their voices as they harmonize some old favorite—"Down by the Old Mill Stream" perhaps—and this in turn evokes for us the clatter of horse-drawn buses and wagons on the cobbled streets outside the barbershop.

The fact that he works from live models and photographs of real people is an important feature of Rockwell's art. The authenticity of his character studies gives authority to the worlds he has chosen to evoke, whether he is casting an ironic glance at the contemporary scene or looking at the past through rose-colored glasses.