Guest post by Nathan Arizona
The Saturday Evening Post has announced that it’s closing down after, well, 205 years depending on how you count it. It is best-known in the form of a hugely popular general interest magazine put out mostly as a weekly by Philadelphia’s Curtis Publishing from 1897 to 1969.
The Post had limped along since then with stories about health and such but could not compete with online publications, just as Curtis in 1969 could not withstand the declining enthusiasm for general interest magazines. You can still see The Post in its shrunken and debased form on your computer.
The Post published timely articles and quality fiction for an essentially middle-class audience. But it was probably most identified with its many iconic Americana covers depicting what now seems a more innocent time, created by artist Norman Rockwell. Rockwell was usually dismissed by the snooty before his death in 1978. But his status has been boosted since then by cultural tastemakers who recognize his skill as an artist and the emotional punch of his work. One of his paintings sold for $46 million in 2013. The previous record was $15 million in 2006.
Even current pop and rock musicians have picked up on him. Lana Del Rey a few years ago released an album and song called “Norman Fucking Rockwell.” The connection with the artist is vague. It seems to have something to do with not living in Norman Rockwell’s world anymore. In the title song, Lana’s mad at her boyfriend, a “self-loathing poet, resident Laurel Canyon know-it-all.” Norman Rockwell never painted that guy, but maybe that’s the point.
There’s a specific Rockwell reference in the album’s “Venice Bitch.” “Give me Hallmark/One dream, one life, one lover/Paint me happy and blue/Norman Rockwell/No hype under our covers/It’s just me and you.”
On the other hand, a 2019 song called “Norman Rockwell” by alt-rockers the Mowgli’s was directly inspired by the 1921 Rockwell cover “Painting the Little House.” It shows a barefoot boy painting a birdhouse red while his faithful dog looks on. The band’s Colin Dieden sees a melancholy situation.
“I was like, I feel like this kid,” he told an interviewer. “I thought this kid was trying to paint himself a new life. He was stuck in this thing, and I imagined he was trying to paint a new world for himself.” Others might see a heart-warming depiction of virtuous industry. Still others might see something in between.
Rockwell’s artistic integrity may be newly valued, but he always had commercial instincts. “Painting the Little House” was created for a paint and varnish co-operative that promoted use of those products. His painting is literally about painting.
Here’s Lana Del Rey with “Norman Fucking Rockwell.” It starts very quietly.
This is “Norman Rockwell” by the Mowgli’s from the 2019 EP “American Feelings.” I was going to chastise them for misuse of an apostrophe, but it turns out that Dieden had a dog called Mowgli. He considered himself Mowgli’s.
And now Lana’s “Venice Bitch.”
