"Walk A Mile (in Their Shoes)"

12 x 12"

oil on panel
sold

I started this painting while watching the first day of the Democratic National Convention and finished it while watching the final night of the convention.  I felt like the events and speakers fueled my progress those four days.  

It was timely with respect to my painting - Norman Rockwell's profound painting.  The importance of equality in all Americans.  The pursuit of a nation where everyone deserves opportunities.  Dignity.  Safety.  Rights.  Hope.

Norman Rockwell's 1964 painting 'The Problem We All Live With' depicts the true event of 6-year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted to an all-white public school in New Orleans, by four U.S. Marshals during the contentious fight over school segregation in 1960.  Despite the angry crowd jeering as Ruby walked to her first day of school, as told later by one of the U.S. Deputy Marshals, 'She showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn't whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier, and we're all very very proud of her.'

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That's Progress

I've started on a larger painting for an upcoming show that features Rockwell's 'The Problem We All Live With'.   If you're interested, I'll be posting my progress on my blog Karin Jurick Paints. 

~ Happy Monday

"Bear In Mind" (study)

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

One of the star attractions in Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait's 1856 painting 'A Tight Fix - Bear Hunting, Early Winter'.  The scene brings to mind the movie The Revenant - a true story of frontiersman Hugh Glass, who's mauled by a grizzly and abandoned by his group of fur trappers.  Interesting is, although there's no direct evidence this scene is based on Hugh Glass, it is strikingly similar to scenes in the movie.  The Museum of Native American History, not far from Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas has one of the only rifles known to belong to Jim Bridger, one of the fur trappers in Hugh Glass's hunting group.

The summary of Tait's painting, in the museum, describes it as 'an icon of American cultural mythology and masculinity'.  When it was first shown, art critics said Tait 'botched the representation of the second hunter, making it unclear whether he's aiming at the bear - neither bear nor man is winning - so a bullet is the only solution to the 'tight fix'.  

More interesting, the summary goes on describing 'critics were particularly sensitive to an impasse between white and black fighters.'   Keep in mind, Tait painted this during the deadlocked war over slavery in the Kansas Territory.  The books of this time were Uncle Tom's Cabin and stories of Davy Crockett where hunting animals and runaway slaves were talked about in similar terms.  

Arthur Tait was born British, and moved to New York City at the age of 31.  He established a hunting camp in the Adirondack Mountains - completely immersed in the frontier life and sport hunting - he produced many paintings and lithographs of related scenes that were wildly popular during his career.

"Walk A Mile" (study)

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

Norman Rockwell's profound 1964 painting 'The Problem We All Live With' is on the top of my Rockwell list.  It depicts 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, an African-American girl, being escorted to an all-white public school in New Orleans, by four deputy U.S. marshalls.  What is so very effective is the viewer is seeing the point of view from the angry crowd, the hint being the racial slurs on the wall and the tomato splattered in between the figures.  

The image was published in a 1964 issue of Look magazine - Rockwell's contract with the Saturday Evening Post ended in 1963 due to Rockwell's continued frustration with the magazine's limitations on his expressions of progressive social interests, including his personal views on civil rights and racial integration.

Norman Rockwell's granddaughter, Abigail, recently wrote a compelling article in the Huffington Post titled Would There Be Norman Rockwell Without The Saturday Evening Post?  Rockwell undoubtedly evolved as an illustrator between 1916 and 1963 - becoming a storyteller with his images like no other.  His career with the Post yielded 322 covers before he ended his contract.

Ruby Bridges, at the age of 56, visited the painting in the White House in 2011 - at the request of President Obama.

The CNN writer, Bob Greene, wrote about that event in this article.  Within that article, these words struck me "..the message of the painting is so powerful that it goes well beyond the incident it portrays. The message transcends our usual Democrats-vs.-Republicans, conservatives-vs.-liberals, left-vs.-right squabbling.  Rockwell was a genius not just because of the technical skill of his artistry, but because of his eye for the telling detail. And in "The Problem We All Live With," the key detail is how he framed the four U.S. marshals who are accompanying that child to school. We do not see their faces; in the painting, the men are cropped at their shoulders.

That is the power and the story of the painting: Four men were accompanying Bridges to school, yes, but the point was, the United States of America was accompanying her. We see the men's "Deputy U.S. Marshal" armbands, and that is what matters. The painting tells us: This country may have its flaws, but when right and wrong are on the line, the nation, in the end, usually chooses to stand for right."

"Riveted"

8 x 10"

oil on panel
sold

Norman Rockwell's iconic 'Rosie the Riveter' is a big draw at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  Rockwell's image made the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Memorial Day, 1943 - featuring a muscular woman taking her lunch break, a rivet gun on her lap, her lunchbox with Rosie on the lid by her side and, what people love the most, Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf under her foot.  The U.S. Department of Treasury used the image on war bonds that generated millions for the war effort.

Rockwell's inspiration for Rosie's pose was from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling image of the prophet Isaiah.

Norman Rockwell is one of my inspirations for wanting to be an illustrator - and Rosie the Riveter would be many a woman's inspiration for feminism.

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"By The Book"

9 x 12"

oil on panel
sold

From the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a couple admiring Mary Cassatt's 'The Reader' with James McNeill Whistler's 'The Chelsea Girl' to their right.

Interesting facts to mention - Whistler was so happy with his painting 'The Chelsea Girl' he gave it to Mary Cassatt's brother, Alexander, a well-known, important man who was president of the

Pennsylvania Railroad.  The artist, Robert Henri, was their distant cousin - here's my recent painting of Henri's hung in the museum as well.

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Charleston Auction This Saturday

The Annual Small Works Art Auction was Saturday - held at the Sylvan Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina.

I had seven pieces in the auction and there were 250+ total.  All seven paintings of mine sold.

Salty Dog

6 x 8"

sold

Tee Off

6 x 8"

sold

Honing In

5 x 5"

sold

Xemplary

6 x 9"

sold

Patience

8 x 8"

sold

Beach Boys

5 x 5"

sold

Paw Prints

5 x 5"

sold

Thank you for participating and thank you for your bids.

"Coast Guard"

10 x 9"

oil on panel
sold

Hoping this basset hound puts a smile on your face.

From the beach on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

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"Ziegfeld's Girl"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

Jessica Penn, the sultry woman in Robert Henri's painting, was an actress and dancer in the famous Ziegfeld Follies.  I love Robert Henri's work - he introduced a new way of portraiture by painting on a mostly black background where the model's face is the main focus, emerging out of the dark surroundings. 

Robert Henri has an interesting bio - his last name was Cozad, his middle name was Henry.  His father founded the town of Cozaddale, Ohio. In 1882, Mr. Cozad was in a dispute with a rancher over the right to pasture cattle on the Cozad family's land - he ended up shooting and killing the rancher, cleared of wrongdoing, but the town turned against him and his family.  Mr. Cozad fled to Colorado with his family, changed their names to erase the incident and his sons posed as adopted children under the surname Henri.

As a young man, Robert was a student at the famed Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, went back and forth to Paris, taught at the New York School of Art - students were famous painters like Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, George Bellows to name a few.  Also to note, Mary Cassatt was his distant cousin.  

Robert Henri led a successful, celebrated life as a painter and died at the age of 64.

From the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, a woman admires Robert Henri's portrait of 'Jessica Penn in Black with White Plumes'.

"Easy Breezy"

8 x 10"

oil on panel
sold

From the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, I've featured one of my personal favorites by Andrew Wyeth, titled 'Airborne'.

Taken from the museum's summary, 'The painting depicts Wyeth's home on Benner Island, Maine - painted in a contrasting palette of bright greens and dull greys conveying the site's weather, tides and seasonal rhythms.  The floating feathers add an element of surprise, suggesting that something is taking place just beyond the frame.  Wyeth invites the viewer to speculate what is happening to the ducks and geese who summer on the pond next to his house - perhaps an attack by one of the resident eagles or simply the molting of seagulls?  More likely Wyeth indicated unexpected, sudden violence here - in his world, reality is always mysterious and illusory: like feathers on a breeze, only momentary.'

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