NOrman Rockwell, Abstract & Concrete, 1963

In the year that this painting was published by "The Saturday Evening Post" Eric Protter of Rockland, Maine wrote a book entitled "Painters On Painting." This was based on the strange idea that painters might known as much about fine art as their critics.

In the preface he said that Perhaps because our world has grown small and our psyche has been shattered by an explosive age, perhaps because our inner motifs and emotions have been examined and we don't like what we see in ourselves and in other men -the critic has become confused in his role and altogether lost his dignity... One can easily imagine the editorial meetings at the influential magazines which must resemble the platform-writing sessions at our national political inventions...this commercial game is utterly unimportant to art itself...Courbet's words:There can be no schools; there are only painters" have as much validity today as they had in the past and will have in the future.

It is not just critics who have suffered. many artists and teachers have lost their way in whatever "ism" is academically current. The tendency to conform is understandable in a world where there are "official standards" of what is acceptable in the field of painting. Protter explains that these standards based on academics, religion, governmental or personal politics - have always predominated. He thinks this cannot stop the honest artist but it certainly can wreck havoc in the pantry!

Do you know the name of the abstract expressionist who actually expressed admiration for Rockwell's work. I can tell you that he is no longer with us!

Having just completed my reminiscences of a child's life during World War II (see my web page at rodneymackay.com), I can tell you that many of us emerged completely ready for something beyond the storytelling paintings which were then, and are still now, our propaganda crosses. The too literal images of that time took painting far, far to the right. Alex Colville produced some of these when he served as a war artist. He was perhaps correct in advising his students to take up graphic art or follow the New York tide away from realism.