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Illustrator, American Icon, and Public Opinion Theorist: Norman Rockwell in Democracy

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10584600490273245-1910

1091-7675

Susan Herbst,

Law in Society and Culture

This essay explores tensions over the portrayal of the public and public opinion during the mid-20th century, using common American images. Focus is on the extraordinarily popular pictures by Norman Rockwell, one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, although one with ambitions far beyond simple illustration. I ask: Can we learn about public opinion from the commercial art market, and how might we go about using images as our data? How can we--as social and political historians so often do--use cultural artifacts to inform the historical study of public opinion.