"Rockwell's talent...was that he could take a mundane scene and make it interesting, amusing and even funny." (http://www.best-norman-rockwell-art.com/1945-man-setting-clock.html)
Norman Rockwell's clock repairman was published on November 3, 1945 by The Saturday Evening Post. It features a repairman adjusting the time on a clock at the Marshall Field Department Store in Chicago. The clock, an electric piece, is controlled by a central piece; it only needs correctly after a power failure. The repairman, a toolbox sitting on the ladder beside him, adjusts the clock according to his own timepiece. Perched 17 feet above the sidewalk at Randolph and State, he seems oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the city down below. (http://store.nrm.org/browse.cfm/clock-mender-(man-setting-clock)-canvas-giclee-print/4,3831.html)
The scene is a mundane one. However, "Rockwell's talent...was that he could take a mundane scene and make it interesting, amusing and even funny." With his bowler hat, the clock repairman has a Chaplinesque quality about him. Rockwell's other talent was his ability to bring out the most minute details in his paintings. Look at the fine details on the clock and the wrinkles in the repairman's face. (http://www.best-norman-rockwell-art.com/1945-man-setting-clock.html)
Note: The original painting is now part of the Chicago History Museum collection. The clock, newly restored, now belongs to Macy's of Chicago.
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