Pants 1919

Here we see Norman Rockwell working with oil paint and probably some thin brushes. The colors are muted greys and browns with some bright white and red stripes. Look at the position of the boy’s body, frozen mid-air, and his face contorted in what looks like pain and anger. He seems so vulnerable. I can only imagine what it was like for Rockwell to try and capture this kind of raw emotion. The surface looks smooth, almost like it's been glazed over with a thin layer of varnish. This gives the painting a sense of distance, as if we're observing a moment frozen in time, which I guess we are! Rockwell was such a master of realistic rendering, and I think he invites us to sympathize with this boy who has obviously just had his pants taken by the dog! Ultimately, artists inspire one another’s creativity. Paintings like this invite us to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty and consider multiple interpretations. What does it mean to lose your pants to a dog?