Babble On. | Login
The animated tumblers and acrobats, who bring excitement to every circus performance, have captivated Peter Rockwell since boyhood. Family trips to New York City to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are fondly remembered by the artist, who still savors the opportunity to enjoy a show, whatever the time or place. “One of the wonderful things about Italy,” where Rockwell lives, in Rome, “[is that] it has a winter circus season.” The opportunity to sketch the human form in motion is taken full advantage of when the circus comes to town each December. When his children were young, they were perfect accomplices. “My daughter finally said to me, ‘Daddy, do we have to go to another circus?’ So I said, ‘No, you don’t have to go to the circus, I’ll go alone.’ So I went alone.”
“In a good circus act, you see people using their bodies for the sheer enjoyment of movement. That’s what I like to capture with my acrobats,” Rockwell said. Lively tumblers transform utilitarian objects and entice viewers to climb his public art, an interactive engagement that he finds particularly satisfying. A collection of the artist's tumblers can be seen on the grounds of Norman Rockwell Museum: http://www.nrm.org
--
Image credit: children enjoying Peter Rockwell's tumbler sculptures on the grounds of Norman Rockwell Museum. Photo by Walt Engels. Courtesy of Norman Rockwell Museum.
Video for the exhibition "Fantastical Faces of Peter Rockwell: A Sculptor's Retrospective," featuring the work of the acclaimed sculptor and youngest son of artist Norman Rockwell. The exhibition will be on view at Norman Rockwell Museum from July 11 through October 25, 2009.
As a young man, Peter Rockwell had no interest in pursuing a career as an artist, and intentionally avoided the arts because they were "too much in the family." A student of English literature at Haverford College, he eventually enrolled in a sculpture class at the prompting of his mother, Mary Rockwell, and "fell head-over-heels in love with it."
Today a noted sculptor and art historian, Peter Rockwell's vibrant, animated works, inspired by circus acrobats, animals in motion, gargoyles, and monsters are featured in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, The Bridgeport Museum of American Art, and the Norman Rockwell Museum, which holds the largest compilation of his art. A leading scholar of the history of stone carving, he has documented his knowledge in "The Art of Stoneworking," his highly-regarded reference guide. An outstanding collection of the artists bronze, marble, and limestone sculptures will be on view this year as part of Norman Rockwell Museums fortieth anniversary.
Video produced by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. ©2009 Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.
Post new comment