Casting around the net for inspiration I found an interesting artist who's new to me. I see his paintings as exceptionally meaningful now, as this momentous week in American politics comes to an end. This artist's work is a commentary on the human condition, horror of war, hardships, and anomalies of modern life. I'm absolutely certain that Irving Norman would approve of America's new President Elect.
Irving Norman. He was born in Vilna, Lithuania, it was under Russian control then, in 1906. He emigrated to the USA in 1923 and worked as a barber. In 1938 he volunteered to join the Abraham Lincoln Batallion to fight in the Spanish Civil War defending the Spanish Republic against fascism. This experience was the catalyst from which his artistic abilities emerged. On his return to the USA, in deep depression from his experiences in Spain, he came to realise that working in politics, to advance the communism which he had espoused, would not satisfy him. During art classes in California he developed the skills needed to express his feelings through art. By 1945 his first major solo exhibition was held in San Francisco.
Irving Norman is one of America's foremost proponents of a genre of art known as Social Realism. His work is a mix of representational, surrealist and abstract art. It is intense, sometimes brutal, critical of modern life, of the horror of war. I cannot describe it better in a nutshell than Mark Vallen (here)
Irving Norman's paintings portray the flip side of life as portrayed in the warm fuzzy, apple pie style of my favourite illustrator, Norman Rockwell. We do need both sides of the coin in order to see a complete picture.
To Have and Have Not
The Orator
Illusions (My Cathedral)
Day and Night, Night and Day, Blind and Hungry
Does Irving Norman's astrology fit? Born 6 January 1906 (no time of birth known) in Vilna, Lithuania.
Sun, Venus and Uranus in Capricorn, Venus and Uranus conjoined. Saturn in Aquarius. Here we have Uranus ruler of Aquarius in Capricorn, and Saturn ruler of Capricorn in Aquarius - mutual reception - which astrologers contend stengthens and blends the energies of both planets and signs. Capricorn/Saturn - the hard, old fashioned rigidity, with Aquarius/Uranus, the forward looking social reformer - a strange blend, yet easier than some, because Saturn was traditionally ruler of Aquarius as well as Capricorn. In Mr Norman's paintings it's easy to detect influences of both these energies. Come to think of it - could there by a more apt astrological signature for Social Realism than Saturn and Uranus in mutual reception!?
Also significant is Mercury at 22 Sagittarius opposing Pluto at 21 Gemini. A dynamic pull between the communicative energies of Mercury and Gemini, coloured by the dark passionate intensity of Pluto.
Without time of birth it's not possible to know whether natal Moon was in Taurus, if born before 8pm, or Gemini, after 8pm. Gemini connects better with his need to communicate his emotions via his art.
Irving Norman died in 1989.
More information and illustrations available at the links below.
http://www.irvingnorman.com/
http://www.irvingnorman.com/chronologies/new_chronology_1.htmDark Metropolis: Irving Norman's Social Surrealism
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/blog/2007/01/social-surrealism-of-irving-norman.html
Irving Norman. He was born in Vilna, Lithuania, it was under Russian control then, in 1906. He emigrated to the USA in 1923 and worked as a barber. In 1938 he volunteered to join the Abraham Lincoln Batallion to fight in the Spanish Civil War defending the Spanish Republic against fascism. This experience was the catalyst from which his artistic abilities emerged. On his return to the USA, in deep depression from his experiences in Spain, he came to realise that working in politics, to advance the communism which he had espoused, would not satisfy him. During art classes in California he developed the skills needed to express his feelings through art. By 1945 his first major solo exhibition was held in San Francisco.
Irving Norman is one of America's foremost proponents of a genre of art known as Social Realism. His work is a mix of representational, surrealist and abstract art. It is intense, sometimes brutal, critical of modern life, of the horror of war. I cannot describe it better in a nutshell than Mark Vallen (here)
"Yet beneath the unrelenting focus on the ills of a world gone mad, there was a profound humanist vision. Norman's paintings were like screams of anguish pleading for a better world."
Irving Norman's paintings portray the flip side of life as portrayed in the warm fuzzy, apple pie style of my favourite illustrator, Norman Rockwell. We do need both sides of the coin in order to see a complete picture.To Have and Have Not
The Orator
Illusions (My Cathedral)
Day and Night, Night and Day, Blind and Hungry
Does Irving Norman's astrology fit? Born 6 January 1906 (no time of birth known) in Vilna, Lithuania.
Sun, Venus and Uranus in Capricorn, Venus and Uranus conjoined. Saturn in Aquarius. Here we have Uranus ruler of Aquarius in Capricorn, and Saturn ruler of Capricorn in Aquarius - mutual reception - which astrologers contend stengthens and blends the energies of both planets and signs. Capricorn/Saturn - the hard, old fashioned rigidity, with Aquarius/Uranus, the forward looking social reformer - a strange blend, yet easier than some, because Saturn was traditionally ruler of Aquarius as well as Capricorn. In Mr Norman's paintings it's easy to detect influences of both these energies. Come to think of it - could there by a more apt astrological signature for Social Realism than Saturn and Uranus in mutual reception!?
Also significant is Mercury at 22 Sagittarius opposing Pluto at 21 Gemini. A dynamic pull between the communicative energies of Mercury and Gemini, coloured by the dark passionate intensity of Pluto.
Without time of birth it's not possible to know whether natal Moon was in Taurus, if born before 8pm, or Gemini, after 8pm. Gemini connects better with his need to communicate his emotions via his art.
Irving Norman died in 1989.
More information and illustrations available at the links below.
http://www.irvingnorman.com/
http://www.irvingnorman.com/chronologies/new_chronology_1.htmDark Metropolis: Irving Norman's Social Surrealism
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/blog/2007/01/social-surrealism-of-irving-norman.html
