Portraits of American Life

Richard A. Gershon, Ph.D. Freedom of Expression, Com. 3070

Western Michigan University

The following presentation will feature a set of portraits and landscapes by some of America’s best known painters and photographers: Norman Rockwell, painter and illustrator Ansel Adams, photographer Dorthea Lange, photographer Sabra Field, painter LeRoy Neiman, painter R.C. Gorman, painter Annie Leibovitz, photographer Stephen Holland, painter

Norman Rockwell

The pictures of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) were recognized and appreciated by millions of Americans.

The cover of The Saturday Evening Post was his showcase for over forty years, giving him an audience larger than that of any other artist in history.

Over the years he depicted a unique collection of Americana, a series of vignettes of remarkable warmth and humor. In addition, he painted a great number of pictures for story illustrations, advertising campaigns, posters, calendars, and books.

"Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American. I am a story teller.”

… “Common places never become tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative."

Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms series was first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1943 during the height of World War II. The Post published the paintings as a series after the U.S. government declined it...

Seeing the huge success of The Post articles, the U.S. government changed its mind about Rockwell's creations.

Soon afterward, the Office of War Information later issued the series as posters as an incentive for War bond purchasers. Many of these posters are still sold today. Homecoming Marine

Freedom

From

Want

Freedom

From

Fear

Freedom

Of

Worship

Freedom

of

Speech

Ansel Adams Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was an

American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black and white photographs of the American west especially – Yosemite National Park

Adams and Fred Archer developed the Zone system as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs and the work of those to whom he taught the system.

Adams primarily used large format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure the sharpness in his pictures.

Dorthea Lange Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) was

an American photographer and photojournalist best known for her work during the 1930’s.

Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and dust bowl influenced the development of documentary photography.

Lange’s direct, compelling studies of people forced from the land are both a faithful chronicle and landmark of 20th century photography.

Migrant Mother, 1936 I saw and approached the hungry

and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions.

She told me her age was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children had killed.

She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to-tent with her children huddled around her, and she seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.

Sabra Field

Sabra Field (1935- )was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and grew up in the New York metropolitan Area. She earned her BA degree at Middlebury College in Vermont where she majored in art.

She also holds a MA in Teaching from Wesleyan University where she studied printmaking.

Sabra Field has lived in Vermont since 1969. She is best known for her illustrated covers for Vermont Life magazine and has done multiple exhibitions since 1960. She has a distinct, colorful impressionistic style.

Tuscany, Italy

LeRoy Neiman LeRoy Neiman (1921–2012) was an American artist

known for his brilliantly colored expressionist painting and screen prints of athletes, musicians and sporting events.

Neiman served in the U.S. Army during WW II. Following his return in 1946, Neiman studied briefly at the Art Institute in Chicago on the GI Bill. After graduating, Neiman served on the Art Institute faculty for ten years. Neiman also gained wide recognition as contributing artist for Playboy in the 1950s.

Beginning in 1960, he traveled the world observing and painting leisure life, social activities and athletic competitions including the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, World Series and the Kentucky Derby, championship boxing, PGA etc. He was the official artist at five Olympiads.

R.C. Gorman R.C. Gorman (1931-2005) was considered one

of the leading Native American artist in the US. Gorman grew up on a Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona. His father, Carl Gorman, was a noted Navajo painter and teacher who later became a code talker during WW II.

Gorman has been described as "the Picasso of American Indian art" by the New York Times. His paintings are primarily of Native American women and characterized by fluid forms and vibrant colors. He is also an avid lover of cuisine, authoring four cookbooks.

Gorman attended Northern Arizona University and University of the Americas in Mexico City I have been fortunate to live and work in the beautiful Taos Valley, an environment rich in artistry and tradition. The spirit of Taos has encouraged and inspired me, and my focus as an artist matured here.

R.C. Gorman

Annie Leibovitz Annie Leibovitz (1949- ) is one of America’s

premiere portrait photographers. Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is a third-generation American whose great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants, from Central and Eastern Europe.

While studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, she took night classes in photography, and began doing work for Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973. By the time she left the magazine, 10 years later, she had shot 142 covers.

In 1983, she joined the staff at Vanity Fair, and also began working for Vogue. In addition to her magazine editorial work, Leibovitz has created influential advertising campaigns for American Express and the Gap and has contributed frequently to the Got Milk? campaign.

Stephen Holland As a young painter, Stephen Holland

(1941- )could not afford to hire live models. The images he found in various magazines became his subjects.

As a child, he was handicapped and had to watch his family and friends play sports. The steel brace he wore on his leg prevented him from attending neighborhood schools. But handicaps often heighten one's other sensitivities. This proved true for Stephen Holland.

Holland’s abilities took shape while attending a special high school which devoted half of each day to art studies. He later attended the Art Students League and later Pratt Institute in New York City. Today, Holland is recognized by Sports Illustrated and other publications as one America’s premiere sports artists.