Search results for ""author karal ann marling""

An extraordinarily prolific artist, Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) produced some 4,000 paintings in his lifetime, not including a prodigious quantity of commissioned editorial, commercial, and advertising work. His death in 1978 was regarded the loss of a national icon, an artist who, like no other, celebrated the American Dream. Shunning experimentation and avant-garde techniques in favor of effective composition and relatable subject matter, Rockwell created wholesome, homely paintings with accessible and aspirational appeal. Neat, quaint, and typically jovial, his subjects included classrooms, prom scenes, and Thanksgiving feasts, while his most long-standing projects were covers for The Saturday Evening Post magazine and calendars and covers for the Boys’ Life publication of the Boy Scouts of America. Imbued with optimism and patriotism, the work foregrounds classic professions such as doctor and teacher, as much as the conservative stalwarts of military, family, and faith. Hailed by President Gerald Ford as a “beloved part of the American tradition,” Rockwell’s works reveal as much about his own talents as they do about the story of 20th-century America. This fresh artist introduction from TASCHEN brings together key paintings and illustrations from his celebratory and sunny portfolio, as well as some more unusual works tackling the underside of the United States, to understand an integrally American artist, and the values and ideals that shaped his success.

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The Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in the winter of 1776, received an urgent message. Please fix upon some particular color for a flag. It was from an understandably exasperated George Washington. The Continental Armies had taken the field under a babble of emblems and devices. Even the Grand Union flag that flew over naval vessels confused the issue with its display of the crosses of the British flag in its canton. So, at Washington's request, Congress wrestled with the design, and on June 14, 1777, almost a year after the signing of Declaration of Independence, on the date still celebrated as Flag Day, the United States finally had a flag all its own. Every era has a flag story to tell. Suffragettes, Know-Nothings, babies, Boy Scouts, and the Ku Klux Klan have all claimed it as their own. It flies in moments of victory, on Iwo Jima during World War II, and in moments of profound sorrow, when America grieved for the victims of 9/11. Old Glory: Unfurling History describes the histories and myths surrounding the flag of the United States of America from its revolutionary birth to the present day, and is lavishly illustrated from the collections of the Library of Congress. Karal Ann Marling is professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. She has published extensively, and her recent books include: George Washington Slept Here, Graceland: Going Home with Elvis, and Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland.

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