Baseball,
Rodeos and Automobiles: The Art of Murray Tinkelman
Part
of the Distinguished Illustrator Series
At
the Norman Rockwell Museum Stockbridge, MA.
March
29 – June 15, 2014
If the folly of humanity has gotten you down—go to the Norman
Rockwell Museum. Then spend some time with the stimulating Murray Tinkelman.
Though not generally well-known, Tinkelman is considered
a legend in the Illustrative Arts. In order to appreciate his contribution to
the genre, it is important to understand a little bit about the history of
illustration; a topic for which Tinkelman has considerable passion, so much so
that he travels the country giving lectures on the subject.
Historically, art has been used to illuminate religious
iconography and to glorify the wealthy. After the printing press and public
education made reading a part of everyday life, art became a popular medium for
selling goods as well as telling stories. Originally, all illustrations were
either etchings or engravings which meant that every image depended upon the
skill of the engravers and the printers to accurately transcribe the artist’s
work. With the invention of the halftone process of photo-engraving,
illustrators became the controlling force behind the image. This invention sparked the Golden Age of
Illustration (1880’s-1920’s). Norman Rockwell’s early popularity stemmed from the
narrative styles of this era.
Commercial and illustrative art of the 1930’s through the
1950’s was heavily influenced by Rockwell’s Populist narrative style. Murray Tinkelman grew up in a world filled
with images that sold the American Dream but which also belied the ugly
underbelly of America. In contrast, most Fine Artists of the time were focusing
on portraying their experience of what they saw as the real America. When Tinkelman entered the advertising
marketplace in the mid-1950’s, there was as large a divide between the imagery
of the Illustrative and Fine Arts as there was between the races.
Enter Murray Tinkelman, the artist-illustrator.
Tinkelman’s early work has the feel of an engraving that
is trying awfully hard to be a cartoon. His work earned him numerous awards but
it wasn’t until he absent-mindedly doodled a rhinoceros in 1970 that he became
a legend. This break-through is the focus of the exhibit.
There is plenty of information available at the museum
about his career and development as an illustrator so I want to take the time
to tell you HOW he does what he does—because it is truly amazing.
He draws out the image as perfectly as possible in pencil
and then uses a very fine technical pen, called a rapidograph, to draw tiny
lines all over the sketch. His first
line always starts at 12:00 and ends at 6:00.
Working over the entire piece instead of sections, he then cross-hatches
more small lines, each of which starts at 1:00 and ends at 7:00. Then again from 2:00 to 8:00, continuing
until he has filled the image with enough cross-hatches to achieve a
middle-grey tone. After this he works on
the areas which will be lighter until he gets to 11:00. If you look closely you can see this clock
pattern. For a more thorough description of his process, please use the
following link: http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/10/murray-Tinkelman-describes-his-process.html
This method gives his images a layered, sunlit, movement
that is somehow incredibly still. He
ranges from whimsical “Mechanimals”, to expressive portraits of Native
Americans at a Powwow and of cowboys at the rodeo. His later work involves a
nostalgic look back to the ‘40s and ‘50s of his youth: details of old cars,
homages to baseball heroes, movie monsters and Coney Island Kodak moments.
Do
as he recommends in the museum video: stop and listen with your eyes. If you do you will see the colors he creates
in black and white.
Tinkelman describes his illustrations as “interpretive
and descriptive” as compared to Rockwell’s narrative style. This is most
especially shown in his illustrations for Ballantine’s re-release of H.P.
Lovecraft’s stories, the originals of which are shown in this exhibit. The profound effect of his work and teaching
methods within the Illustrative Arts comes from the fact that he was asked to
illustrate books not because they amplified the text, but because they added to
the content of the book itself. He made what
had once been a consequence of literature into a part of literature and an art
unto itself. The once “mere” illustrator was now seen as an Artist with as much
standing as many of the great Fine Artists.
With respect comes power and with power comes creative control. Because
of Tinkelman, author and illustrator have become equal parents in the creation
of what we read: a union perfectly illustrated by the art of Wendell Minor
whose work is also shown at the Rockwell Museum through May 26, 2014.
