Between realism and idealization

“Boy and Girl Gazing at Moon” (1926), cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, of April 24, 1926, in the show “Norman Rockwell: The Human Touch,’’at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass., Nov. 14-May 31.

The museum says

“As a Time magazine reporter observed in 1943, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) ‘constantly achieves that compromise between a love of realism and the tendency to idealize, which is one of the most deeply ingrained characteristics of the American people.’ His art has long been defined by a hopeful and admiring view of humanity. Throughout his career, he sought to capture the warmth and complexities of people’s fleeting interactions with one another― narratives shaped as much by observations and affection for his subjects as by their shared emotions and experiences.’’