"There were details, accidents of light, which I'd missed when I'd been able to make only quick sketches of a setting...where Rob hung his combs,his rusty old clippers, the way the light fell across the magazine rack, his moth-eaten push broom leaning against the display cases of candy and ammunition, the cracked leather seat of the barber chair with the stuffing pointing through along the edges over the nickel-plated frame." (Norman Rockwell, My Adventures as an Illustrator, 1960)
Photograph on which Rockwell based his painting Shuffleton's Barbershop courtesy https://www.visualnews.com/2012/10/04/the-photographs-behind-norman-rockwells-iconic-paintings/.
Norman Rockwell painted Shuffleton's Barbershop in East Arlington, Vermont in 1950 for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell left nothing to chance in his preparation for the painting. He called on his assistant Gene Pelham to take photographs of the barbershop.
"There were details, accidents of light, which I'd missed when I'd been able to make only quick sketches of a setting...where Rob hung his combs,his rusty old clippers, the way the light fell across the magazine rack, his moth-eaten push broom leaning against the display cases of candy and ammunition, the cracked leather seat of the barber chair with the stuffing pointing through along the edges over the nickel-plated frame."
One blogger points out more details from Shuffleton's Barbershop (http://www.best-norman-rockwell-art.com/1950-shuffletons-barbershop.html):
- paint and putty peeling on the windowsill
- crack in the window pane
- red hot coals in the wood burning stove
- a comic book stand
- the cat listening to Shuffleton and his cohorts
Note that classical musicians are playing in the back of the barbershop. At one time, barbershops were far more than places to get a haircut. Entertainment was a big part of the barbershop, the birthplace of the barbershop quartet.
Even though Shuffleton's Barbershop was the painter's 233rd piece for The Saturday Evening Post, when Rockwell first unveiled the painting, it only costs 15 cents. Today, Rockwell's paintings have soared in value. Just three years ago, three Rockwell paintings fetched 57.8 million dollars at a Sotheby's auction in Manhattan. Americans (and art connaisseurs) are still seeking the old time values that Rockwell portrayed so well in his paintings.
The Saturday Evening Post cover for April 29, 1950 courtesy https://www.visualnews.com/2012/10/04/the-photographs-behind-norman-rockwells-iconic-paintings/.
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