George Lucas and Steven Spielberg Present: Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell, Shadow Artist

What do George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have in common? Suspenseful movies, multiple prestigious awards and apparently, a taste for Norman Rockwell paintings.

Last week, the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened an exhibition featuring 57 major works by Rockwell from the private collections of Lucas and Spielberg. “Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg” is set to run until Jan. 2, 2011.

The mutual interest in Rockwell’s art shared by Lucas and Spielberg may be more than just coincidence. Perhaps the two famous filmmakers closely identify with Rockwell’s work because of the artist’s own interest in the industry that made Lucas and Spielberg household names. The exhibition is the first to explore in depth the connections between the artist’s depictions of American life and the movie-making industry.

Throughout his life, Rockwell took notice of the glamour of Hollywood and its effects on the American lifestyle. During the 1930s and 1940s, Rockwell became further immersed in the culture of the filmmaking industry through his frequent trips to Los Angeles and even designed movie posters for several studios.

This exposure to the movie-making process may have influenced the way he created his paintings: Rockwell truly “staged” his images. He held auditions for his “cast,” and paid particular attention to costumes, props and lighted sets. He even once commented, “If I hadn’t become a painter, I would have liked to have been a movie director.”

But the connections between Rockwell’s art and the movies extend beyond the artist’s staging process. Rockwell’s paintings are also narratives describing American culture and small-town values.

“Norman Rockwell is an artist and a storyteller who captured universal truths about Americans that tell us a lot about who we are as a people,” said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Like Rockwell, both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg embrace the idea that ordinary people can become unlikely heroes,” she continued.

The exhibition will also include a 12-minute film, coproduced by the museum and filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau and featuring interviews with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. For more information, click here.

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