"Norman Rockwell is a brilliant storyteller within a particular American tradition. What makes his work so effective is that he appears to have shared with millions of other Americans a particular set of assumptions about life in the United States, and he has blended his skills as an illustrator with a wealth of careful observation to bring the consequences of these assumptions to life. A fellow once said. Norman Rockwell was a painter from the 1920's to the 1970's who painted for magazines such as Saturday Post and Look Magazine. He created images through two world wars, the great depression, and World War I. Unlike other painters of his time who used postimpressionism and modernism; Rockwell created images of Americans and is said by some to be the only true American realist (Schorr). Norman Rockwell took events happening around the around the world and portrayed them so that they related to Middle Class America and through his paintings he expressed his views on creating an idyllic American society. .
In the later years of his life, Norman Rockwell started to take a stand against bigotry by drawing pictures that made the viewer stop and examine his feelings towards African Americans. In the picture New Kids from the Block (Finch) Rockwell expresses the message that all children are alike. The artist portrays two young African American children moving into a predominantly white neighborhood. The two African American children, a young boy and his younger sister, look at three white children dressed in their play clothes consisting of baseball mitts, caps, shorts, and dirty shirts. The Baseball gloves worn by all the boys illuminate the love for baseball, which demonstrates that most children share common interests. The looks on all the children, Black and White, reflect interest exemplifying that the children share the same innate emotions that link the two races closer together.
