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Norman Rockwell
Barbershop Quartet, 1936
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, September 26, 1936
During the 1930s, Norman Rockwell celebrated life's simple pleasures in artworks filled with pathos and humor. This work was likely inspired by the professional and amateur barbershop quartets that were popular from the 1890s through the 1930s. Facial expression and hand gestures tell Rockwell's story, as do details like the straight razor, shaving cup and mug, and well-worn comb. When Rockwell painted this work, he was living in New Rochelle, New York, a hug for noted illustrators. Fellow Post artist, Walter Beach Humphrey, appears on the far right, his face half-covered with shaving cream. In Humphrey's hand is a copy of The Police Gazette, an early twentieth century gentleman's magazine featuring tales about the seamier side of life. |