Growth of a Leader 

Norman Rockwell’s ‘Growth of a Leader’ is an oil painting, a medium deeply rooted in traditions of fine art. The thick application of paint is critical to Rockwell’s project of social realism. Look closely, and you can see the marks of the brush in every square inch of this canvas, a record of the labor involved. As the title suggests, the artist tracks the coming-of-age of a boy scout across time, and from one rank to another, using this thick impasto to build up the character’s faces. Rockwell applies traditional techniques to the context of mid-century America, when an ascendant consumer culture was increasingly shaping the character of its citizens. He asks us to think about what kinds of values, what codes of conduct, were being instilled through institutions like the Boy Scouts. Ultimately, Rockwell’s choice of oil paint underscores the painting's cultural significance, and the labor inherent in the creative process. It reminds us to consider how materials, making, and context intersect, and how traditional distinctions between fine art and craft are challenged.