Peace Offering

Happy Anniversary! Celebrating in style at the United Nations.
June 29, 2015. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. 

July is a good month for anniversaries (love you, Sarah).

This year I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention The United Nations. Actually, June 26, 1945 was the date that the original charter for the peacekeeping organization was signed in San Francisco.

Nearly 70 years to the date, I had the honor of attending two special events held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on June 30. The occasion was to celebrate We The Peoples: Norman Rockwell’s United Nations, a new exhibition organized by Norman Rockwell Museum to commemorate the UN’s 70th year, and I played an active role in coordinating an on-site press conference, and documenting and representing the Museum during an evening reception.

UN's "Golden Rule" mosaic (even more
impressive in person). Photo by Jeremy Clowe.

But it gets better. It turns out that I actually played a significant part in the inspiration for the exhibition.

A couple years ago, Samir Afridi, the UN’s senior communications officer, was giving a tour of the New York headquarters to his six-year-old nephew, who was particularly struck by a large mosaic of Norman Rockwell’s iconic Golden Rule illustration (a gift to the UN from the United States back in 1985). After trying to answer questions from the young boy, he turned to the internet to see if he could find any connection between Rockwell and the organization.

What he came across was a 2009 exhibition video I created and posted for Norman Rockwell Museum, detailing the conservation of United Nations, a little-known drawing created by Norman Rockwell. Inspired by the founding and goals of the organization, the artist began work on the drawing back in the early 1950s, going so far as to travel to New York to visit the then newly founded organization to conduct research and take reference photographs. Ambitious in theme, Rockwell never finished the work, but revisited his illustration of a group of world citizens for the Golden Rule painting in 1960 (removing the UN delegates, who they initially watched over in the drawing).

Both the drawing and painting are part of the Museum’s permanent collection, but the drawing had spent years in desperate need of repair, as you will see in the video (one of my favorites I have created over the years). Don’t try this at home!

My friend at the UN then decided to reach out the Museum, and discussions were underway between the two organizations about exhibiting the drawing at the UN’s Visitor Centre in time for its 70th anniversary. I first learned about the interest when Jan Eliasson, the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General, was slated to visit the Museum in Stockbridge last year to view the drawing and the rest of our collection. I was on-hand to photograph his visit, and it was nice to learn of his admiration for the video, and delight in viewing Rockwell’s artwork in person.

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon tours
the "We The Peoples" exhibition with Norman Rockwell Museum
Director, Laurie Norton Moffatt. Photo by Jeremy Clowe for
Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

So, the last year has been spent preparing for the exhibition, which is now on view at the UN Headquarters through September 15, 2015. I don’t know if I have ever been so busy at the Museum: conducting press outreach, creating content, and working with the UN to coordinate our efforts. My work is not done, but I was pleased with how well the press conference and reception came together. I was pleased to have my wife on-hand to help me take photographs and share the experience in New York; we are both members of area peace action groups (I had previously filmed Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks during a New York Peace Action event five years ago), so it was meaningful for both us to be there. I also appreciated Secretary General Ban's remarks in recent essays that, "Rockwell’s United Nations, as the UN itself, remains an unfinished work." How fitting.

With civil rights era icon, Ruby Bridges at the United Nations,
June 29, 2015. Photo by Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

Also in attendance for the opening was Ruby Bridges, whose historic walk to integrate Southern schools back in the late 1950s inspired Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With painting; I had interviewed Ruby over ten years ago for the Museum, and enjoyed meeting her again (I was especially interested in talking to her about her cousin, Leon Bridges, a talented soul musician who is generating a lot of buzz lately!). Everyone seemed in good spirits about this event, and it was certainly great outreach for the Museum.

Peaceful display at the UN. Photo by Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

Regarding the exhibition, our curatorial team has done a great job with the display, and I was really pleased to see my video included in the exhibition. There have been many meaningful efforts that I have been involved with at the Museum over the years, but I must say that here is an instance where it all came together (creativity, communications, artistic appreciation) and supported a cause that I wholeheartedly believe in. 

Peace.

Related Links:

Norman Rockwell Museum's United Nations exhibition site

"Museum Celebrates 70th Anniversary of The United Nations," Jeremy Clowe, Norman Rockwell Museum website

Peace Action New York State

United Nations