Did Her Part

Mary Keefe ("Rosie") signing autographs
at Norman Rockwell Museum, July 2013.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell
Museum. All rights reserved.

I was sad to learn the news that Mary Doyle Keefe, the model for Norman Rockwell's iconic Rosie The Riveter painting, died this past week at the age of 92. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Mary on several occasions during my time at Norman Rockwell Museum, and she was always quite pleasant and modest about her experience posing for the artist. 

Like many of Rockwell's models, Mary was also one of his neighbors during the years the artist lived in Arlington, Vermont. She was just 19 and the town telephone operator, when Rockwell called and asked her if she could pose for his latest painting. "You knew he used a lot of people in Arlington," she recalled during a 2002 video interview I conducted with her for the Museum. "You just knew that that's what he did. So I said 'sure' and went down, and sat there for maybe two hours or so. Gene Pelham, his photographer, took all the pictures." 

Several weeks later she received a call from Rockwell, apologizing for changing her petite frame into the hefty, muscular figure (inspired by Michelangelo's painting of the Prophet Isaiah on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel). She seemed to take it in stride, despite the occasional ribbing. The illustration appeared on the May 29, 1943 cover of The Saturday Evening Post, becoming a beloved symbol for women who joined the workforce during World War II. 

It is amazing to see how Norman Rockwell's images continue to resonate to this day. Shortly after hearing the news of Mary's passing, I started to receive numerous press calls at the Museum looking for comment and more information. Today's New York Times features an article, which includes excerpts from my 2002 interview; and I have also shared audio from that interview with such radio outlets as WAMC, our local NPR station, as well as Hartford's WTIC (coincidentally, where I once interned during college). 

A blog post I created on our website has been cited by numerous sources, and my Facebook post about the news has set a record for us (currently reaching over 2 million 200 thousand people, with over 9700 likes and 15,470 shares). Our Facebook fans have been posting comments of appreciation and even archival photos of family members who served as real-life "Rosies" or modern-day tributes. 

With "Rosie," August 2012 at Norman Rockwell Museum.
Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

From my years of conducting videotaped oral histories with Rockwell's models, I can offer a certain level of insight about the artist and his collaborators, and that is a great feeling. It is also satisfying to be able to share the story of everyday people, who have found themselves in extraordinary situations. 

As I told a reporter from the Nashua Telegraph this week, "I think several people from the Arlington area were unsuspecting of the legacy they would suddenly be carrying with them. They became part of Norman Rockwell’s world and became more aware of this lasting impact as generations went on." As a sweet side note, Mary's granddaughter Hillary went on to intern with us at Norman Rockwell Museum.

The last time I saw Mary was in 2013, when she attended one of the Museum's model reunions (her arrival always seemed treated like "royalty" by our visitors). She looked great and was gracious as always, signing autographs and posing for photos. A rather reserved woman, I think she just accepted this larger than life "celebrity" that she became associated with, and was happy to share her memories with an appreciative public. "It was a privilege to be able to sit for Norman Rockwell and be able to do all these things, because he was quite an artist," she told me. "I got quite a bit out of it."


Related Links:

"Mary Keefe, Model for Rockwell’s ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ Dies at 92," The New York Times, April 24, 2015

"One-time Nashua resident who posed as 'Rosie the Riveter' dies," Nashua Telegraph (subscription only), April 24, 2015

"Rockwell Museum Remembers Mary Doyle Keefe, a.k.a. 'Rosie the Riveter" (video interview), Time Warner Cable News, Albany, NY, April 23, 2015

"Rockwell Museum Remembers Rosie The Riveter Model" (includes audio clips/interview), WAMC Northeast Public Radio, April 23, 2015

My Facebook Post for Norman Rockwell Museum (includes photo and fan tributes), April 22, 2015

"Remembering Rosie The Riveter," my blog post for Norman Rockwell Museum website, April 22, 2015

A Richer Life Through Art

I know, things have been quiet on this blog lately... in reality, this month has been as busy as it has been cooold!

This past weekend I was on a bit of a video production tour, with stops in Connecticut and New York City (not to mention The Capital Region). Last Friday I visited the headquarters of Cortina Learning International, based in Wilton, CT, which recently donated the art and archives of the Famous Artists School to Norman Rockwell Museum. Along with the Museum's chief curator, I interviewed Cortina's owners Robert and Magdalen Livesey about this very generous gift, which includes more than 5000 artworks (including original art by Norman Rockwell), course materials, photographs, and other important objects. The couple, who have led the popular art correspondence course since 1981, shared stories about the program and the many talented artists they have worked with over the years.

Norman Rockwell wants YOU. FAS ad, c.1970s.

The Famous Artists School (FAS) was founded in 1948 by illustrator Albert Dorne and 12 of his peers, including Norman Rockwell. In its heyday, FAS became America’s most popular art correspondence course during the mid-twentieth century. At its peak enrollment in the 1950s and 1960s, FAS served as many as 40,000 students. I actually remember seeing the school's "We're looking for people who like to draw" ads in the back of comic books when I was a young kid in the 70s!

Norman Rockwell Museum has nearly doubled its collection through this new acquisition, which offers a wealth of knowledge and undiscovered materials about Rockwell and the field of American illustration art. The press has taken note, and I even landed a big feature in last Sunday's New York Times about the addition to our collection. As the Museum's press manager, this was a big coupe for me, and I'm very happy for the exposure—thanks to Times writer Randy Kennedy for the great article and interest.

Hilarious 1950s-era commercial for FAS! 

In addition to press, it has been great to play around with our new Sony PMW-100 camera and accessories. I have also been learning a bit more about lighting options for video, film and photo shoots, and will write more about that in the future.

On that note, I'll end here. To satisfy my own "communication needs," I have belatedly started a Twitter page, which should allow me to more easily share info on my current doings... hell, at this rate I should be jumping on Instagram and Tumblr in another year-! I do like the format of Twitter (keep it simple, sucka) and there are some great artists to follow over there. Still figuring out a proper website, so this should be enough to tide you over for the time being... #Ciao!

Related Links:

“The Draw of a Mail-Order Art School,” New York Times, March 20, 2014

“Famous Artists School Archives Donated to Museum,” Westport News, February 21, 2014

Freedom?

I'm feeling rather pissed off at the moment. Yesterday I created a post for the Museum's Facebook page using Alex Ross' 2008 superhero image of Barack Obama to congratulate the President. I was excited about my candidate's win and the other good news from the election, and thought it would be fun to post this image to tie in with current events and the upcoming exhibition. 

The image received 118 likes, 39 shares, and 29 comments... unfortunately, several of those comments were extremely negative. I was actually surprised by the reaction... people saying that Rockwell would be rolling over in his grave... that the President was a socialist... that the image was propaganda... that we had a liberal bias... people threatening to never have anything to do with our organization or Rockwell again... 

After a comment was posted saying that they couldn't believe that we would play partisan politics, I felt compelled to post a reply... that the image was not meant to be an endorsement by the Museum, but a tie-in to Alex Ross' work... I apologized for any offense, and explained that just days earlier we had posted photos of both candidates and their relationship to the Museum and Rockwell. Someone wrote not long afterwards that "salt in the wound" didn't help paint a pretty picture. Well, I hadn't thought of that... I understand that there would be plenty of people upset with the outcome of the election, but not sure I considered that this "heroic" image might rub some of our fans the wrong way... especially on the day after.

That being said, this post thread illustrated some of the very ugly discourse that is taking place on social media. The fact is that most of the comments were being made by the same two or three people... frequently irrational and, at times, hinting at racism. I was sad to see the state that politics and civility has degenerated into, although I do remember how shellshocked I felt back in 2004 when George Bush was reelected President after doing what I considered to be a very reckless job during his first four years.

Today on this Obama image thread one of those offended posted links to the inflammatory Obama 2012 movie, some garbage about this President stealing the election, and so on... I deleted those comments, and felt bad for an additional one that voiced how upset they were that this image was connected in any way to Rockwell... of course, it wasn't... apart from the fact that we are a museum dedicated to illustration arts. 

The thing that kills me is that this was never intended to be an insulting image. It was not meant to stir controversy in the way the political cartoons of Mohammad had enraged so many Muslims in the Middle East. During the last election, the Museum had actually exhibited a show on political illustrator Steve Brodner, whose work was a lot more satirical and confrontational in nature... I don't remember hearing such a reaction about any of his imagery. Actually, the Obama illustration was probably created in 2008 out of love... to celebrate the idea that our country was finally in a position to elect the first black president... I didn't ask Ross how he felt about the President's accomplishments after four years... it could be possible that he didn't find Obama's last four years to be super or heroic at all, but I think there was a different, underlying issue at stake here for those who replied to my posting.

Ultimately our curator suggested that we take the image down. In a way, it felt like a defeat. I thought about Rockwell's work... paintings like The Four Freedoms... Saying Grace... The Problem We All Live With... images that depict tolerance and freedom of expression... I think the artist would be saddened to learn how divisive our country has become. 

Alex Ross, Uncle Sam, 1997, courtesy and from
the collection of the artist. Image from the exhibition
Heroes & Villians: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross.
©DC Comics. Used with permission.