Tragic proceedings - BSA looking to sell precious Norman Rockwell collection

[The Latin Scot]

I actually have a number of friends who are color blind! And so was my hero, Mr. Rogers. In face, his color blindness was so severe that he never actually knew what color sweater he was wearing in each episode, and he couldn't tell the difference between pea soup and tomato soup except by tasting them. But he certainly seemed to get a lot of fulfilment out of his life nonetheless, and he passed that on to the children he inspired as well - I being one of them. ☺️

[DuctTape]

My college roommate (and best friend) is color blind. We started a software company back in the late 90s to provide computer games for the blind primarily due to his color blindness and issues with video games.

[yknot]

16 hours ago, The Latin Scot said:

And thus it is in life; about those things of which we know nothing, we seem to care but little; we never feel the lack of that with which we have never been filled, and thus we never know the magnitude to which our souls might have been expanded, nor the heights to which our joys might have reached.

I have been privileged to see two magnificent Rockwell exhibits in my life. Both deeply and thoroughly changed me.

One was back in 2013 at the Church History museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City while I was living up in Utah. The display was in celebration of the Church's hundred-year collaboration with the Boy Scouts of America, and featured nearly all of the paintings owned by the BSA loaned to the Church for the occasion. It was profoundly moving; I wasn't a Scouting leader then, but I was after all an Eagle Scout, and his paintings inspired me in such a way that I felt I had been spiritually prepared to take on the role of Scout leader when the call came not-quite two years later. There is a powerful, humane dignity to his art that reflects the nobility and heritage of what we are and what we do in Scouting; his paintings capture the best in us, and when I became a leader, I wanted to be the kind of person depicted in his paintings - full of mirth and excitement and fun, but also dignity and reverence and humanity.

A few years later at Brigham Young University (my alma mater), there was a tremendous exhibit of his works borrowed from the Stockbridge museum that included, among other works, the entirety of Rockwell's paintings for the Saturday Evening Post (323 covers!), his series of civil rights movement paintings, and various Scouting works. Again, a breathtaking exhibit that had me alternating between fits of delighted laughter and moments of profound reflection and tear-filled grief. It was, like the exhibit I saw before it, a life-altering experience. I think Rockwell's paintings stand as one of the greatest testaments of what Scouting has meant to this nation for over a hundred years, and they are, I would say, one of the organization's greatest treasures, worth as much as any property, campground, or financial asset, and with a value infinitely beyond that of their mere monetary worth.

I know my Scouting service has been hugely influenced by Rockwell's works. They have inspired me to be a better leader, a nobler person, a kinder servant, and a more faithful believer. I think that, for those with open hearts, they can be some of the greatest motivators Scouting can possibly offer. 

I love Norman Rockwell although for me the painter who rocked my world was Rembrandt. Rockwell traced most of his paintings from photographs; Rembrandt's were paintings from life that were so real, some of them look like photographs despite the fact they were painted in the 1600s. Amazing. 

 

[SSScout]

There is a profound difference in being able to view the ORIGINAL versus a book picture or even a projected image. 

Each brush stroke was dealt by a human hand. It was put there by the desire to capture ... what?  Something even a photograph can't capture.  

My dad attended an art school early on, thinking he might be a professional artist. Then the great depression interferred.  His friendship with the schools director Henry Hensche, continued and when I went off to summer camp , he and mom visited with Mr. Hensche,  I am the beneficiary of that visit,  years later, Hensche's portraits of my mom and dad, much younger, hang on my wall.  They are captured much better than any photo even of that time. 

Mr. Rockwell's work is much like that.  Wherever they hang, go and visit and view them. Soak up the "spirit" from which they sprang.  We can only hope, no matter their fiscal worth, that the new owner values their exhibition as much.

[RememberSchiff]

Nov 8, 2021

“The U.S. has changed a lot,” Dan Ownby, the Boy Scouts of America’s National Chair, observed while visiting the Medici Museum of Art on Sunday to see and critique the vast Rockwell collection the BSA owns. “He was showing the diversity of the world.”

More at source link:

https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2021/11/boy-scouts-national-leader-tours-medici-to-see-rockwell-paintings/

[skeptic]

2 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Nov 8, 2021

“The U.S. has changed a lot,” Dan Ownby, the Boy Scouts of America’s National Chair, observed while visiting the Medici Museum of Art on Sunday to see and critique the vast Rockwell collection the BSA owns. “He was showing the diversity of the world.”

More at source link:

https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2021/11/boy-scouts-national-leader-tours-medici-to-see-rockwell-paintings/

While the content is interesting and shows Ownby's interest, it does not deal with the change in ownership issue, but rather simply the collection's focus on Scouting, as seen in the Rockwells.  Hopefully, the change in ownership will continue to allow this type of public contact of the paintings, and maybe even more than when at the National Museum.  

In some respects, there may be an opportunity to enhance the Scouting story without the distractions of the ongoing legal circus.  I could see this type of broader, community reconginzed type of presentation to be a positive thing, maybe even added to from other lesser known artists in the BSA stable over the years.  

As an aside, while the connection of Rockwell with Boys Life is relatively well know today, very little is common knowledge in respect to his very early book illustrations for the Cave books on hiking and campint circa 1914 and 1915.  They are ant interesting study in Rockwell's early technique, still developing at the time.  While mostly pen and ink type illustrations, and small, to fit the pages of the book well, even then there is detail that was not common for the time with illustrators.  I personally see though a slight similarity to Seton and Beard drawings of the same era, though they were already established in their own right.

[skeptic]

The two books by Edward Cave are now available online free.  Here are links to the two of them.  I am fortunate to have the actual original books in my accumulation, including the second printing that was comined with the two.  

https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/omeka/items/show/2143

https://archive.org/details/boyscampbookguid00cave/page/n8/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater

[DuctTape]

I have both of Cave's books. Being over 100 years old, they are not in the greatest of condition. 

I always loved how back in the day, folks like Cave would write books to "fill the gaps"  and/or give more detail with information/techniques not included in the handbook. Of course these pre-dated the Fieldbook.

[RememberSchiff]

Joseph Csatari, and his son, Jeff Csatari, the editor of Men's Health Magazine, will present a lecture that shares memories and career working alongside Norman Rockwell. The lecture is this Saturday  1pm and will take place in the new expansion of the museum, surrounded by Joseph Csatari's exhibition: Joseph Csatari: A 50-Year Retrospective of Scouting Artwork.

Commissioned to be Rockwell’s successor as the official artist for the Boy Scouts of America in 1977, Csatari captures the spirit of hope, honor, and patriotism in his paintings. In recent years, Csatari has produced paintings commemorating the 100th anniversaries of World Scouting, the Boy Scouts of America, the Eagle Scout award, and the Order of the Arrow.

During his 60-year association with the BSA, he has created more than 150 Scout-themed paintings and drawings.

More at source:

https://www.wfmj.com/story/45181353/norman-rockwell-heir-to-speak-at-boy-scout-painting-exhibition-in-howland

[skeptic]

It would be great if the event was on tape for us too far away, and too old to travel.  You know, half of us on these forums.😊

[skeptic]

42 minutes ago, skeptic said:

It would be great if the event was on tape for us too far away, and too old to travel.  You know, half of us on these forums.😊

Years ago, I drove from Ventura to Newport Beach to see the traveling exhibit of the time.  I was well worth the stress of the L.A. freeways.  Also saw the art, or part of it, in Dallas before the move to Philmont.  

 

[RememberSchiff]

Twenty five pieces of the BSA 321 piece art collection will be auctioned by Heritage Auctions  in November. Heritage Auctions recently sold Babe Ruth's 1932 "Called Shot" jersey for north of $24M.

Not sure if any of these 25 art pieces are Rockwell.

Source (mostly behind a paywall):

https://www.wsj.com/articles/boy-scouts-to-auction-norman-rockwell-paintings-other-art-to-fund-sex-abuse-settlement-b97441fd

Interested in comic books?

https://comics.ha.com/c/search/results.zx?dept=1938&mode=live&auction_name=7379&ic=hero-Comics-viewLots-7379-082124

Edited August 28 by RememberSchiff

[Cleveland Rocks]

The 25 referenced are part of the BSA Rockwell collection currently on display at the Medici Museum of Art in Warren, OH. The museum has 65 pieces of the Rockwell collection in total, and all will be auctioned off in the next two years:

 

Heritage Auctions in Dallas announced this week that 25 pieces from the collection will be auctioned in November, with the rest sold in the next year or two. Per the bankruptcy settlement, proceeds will go to survivors of childhood sexual abuse while in scouting.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2024/08/act-fast-to-see-norman-rockwells-boy-scouts-works-at-this-northeast-ohio-museum-before-theyre-sold.html

Edited August 28 by Cleveland Rocks

[skeptic]

Other than the announced dates, not anything not already known.  Hopefully the subject matter will still be available for Scouters and others alike.  

[mrjohns2]

Does selling them transfer the trademark rights to the new owner?