Norman Rockwell

                                        ROSIE THE RIVETER

[pic 1]

During the second world war when the men had to be on the

front, the countries needed manpower principally in factories

to manufacture some artillery for the war. Thus,women were

strongly requestly as labor force with the help of recruitment

campaign. It is in 1943 that « Rosie » appears. It is a picture

of propaganda by J. Howard Miller to encourage as much

women as possible to work in factories. But this one did

not make an impression even if it was displayed in factories.

[pic 2]

                                        At the same year, Norman ROCKWELL who already had his                                         good reputation, decided to paint his own « Rosie », his                                                 interpretation of her. A song he listened to strongly inspired                                         him because of the sentence « Rosie the riveter ». Even if some                                         traits look like the original picture, other aspects definite.                                                 Rockwell's paint is more muscular, so tough than the Miller's                                         one, and so more mascular. She is wearing goggles. More, she                                         seems to be taking a break, eating a ham sandwich. We                                                 understand thanks to her denim overalls, her goggles, a burn on                                         her cheek, her badges and her riveter weapon that she works in a                                         rivetory factory. Too, we understand clearly it is a                                                         representation of the Miller's one because of her muscles,                                                 admittedly more exaggerate, and her name appearing on her                                         bag. In the background, we can see the US flag, with the lines which seems to be deformed. In the bottom, we see Rosie tramples on the « Mein Kampf », written by Hitler. Indeed, in this book are written some autobiographic elements, nazi  ideology, propaganda, ect... This element gives us informations about the historic period and confirms us it is during the second world war. More Rosie looks at downwards as if she contemptuous of men who thought women could not do like them.

        This paint of Norman Rockwell, famous a lot at this period, is totally engaged, because he deforms the picture used for the campaign recruitment in order to spread a message which is : women can work in factories and so go out of their daily activites sector while men are at war, and could not manage without them. More, at the end of this war, women realized they liked work in factories and wanted to continue to weld, to built, ect... This caricature of a woman during the second world war offers us a reflexion about the women roles during this period, and which is actual in some countries nowadays again. But this paint is optimist in relation to the period it was made because it shows women active in work, and shows they can do the same job as men without criticizes whereas at the time, it was rare to see women work because of their husbands, or society. That is why Rockwell is considered as an engaged artist because it is all the more brave as paint a caricatural woman not much stereotyped as it is rare to see that at the time.

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