“Looking Out To Sea”

THIS EARLY OIL PAINTING gives us a glimpse of Norman Rockwell's traditional roots. In subject matter it foreshadows much of his later work, but it lacks the personal touch that he brought to his mature work. We can use this totally academic study as a standard against which to measure his eventual achievement. All of the technical skill is there already, but the artist has not yet found a personal viewpoint. The figures here are ciphers of youth and age. In his maturity he would have endowed the old man and the boy with more character, making them distinct individuals, through the trenchant details that are so telling in Rockwell's later work.