English

Norman Rockwell
No Swimming, c. 1921
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post (June 4, 1921)
Oil on canvas

PETER ROCKWELL: These three boys and their dog are on the run, after being caught skinny-dipping. My father cropped off the image and used the strong black lines of the border to freeze the moment, as if the boys were running out of the page itself.

In 1921, before my father began to use photographs, these child models would have had to hold their poses for quite a while. He’d help them out by setting up stacks of books underneath their feet, and he even rigged up a pulley system to hold their arms up in the air for long periods of time. Although he tried to make them as comfortable as possible, inevitably they’d begin to lose patience.

My father’s solution was to set a stack of nickels next to his easel. At each rest period, he’d transfer some nickels over to a new stack, telling his models that was their pile. As the stacks of nickels visibly traded places, his models were content and could hold their poses a bit longer.

Family

Norman Rockwell
No Swimming, c. 1921
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post (June 4, 1921)
Oil on canvas

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] These kids posed to look like they just got caught swimming in the “No Swimming” hole. They had to hold these poses for a long time. See if you can hold a pose as well as these boys did—try it. You’ve got to hold your pose the whole time I tell you this story:

(sounding like this is a princely sum) I paid these kids fifty cents an hour. (As if hearing an argument) Yeah, yeah, that’s back when candy cost a penny…

So — they’d be posing, and we’d be talking:

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] Say–did you know I can hypnotize a chicken?

[KID VOICE] No kidding!

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] Yup — you just rock the chicken back and forth like a baby a few times, and it falls asleep.

[KID VOICE] (whining) Hey–are we done yet? Where’s my fifty cents!

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] But you only posed 25 cents worth so far! (To the kids on the tour) Everyone holding those poses still? Anyway– what I did to keep them happy was to take a pile of nickels —

[SFX: DUMPING A PILE OF CHANGE]

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] — that was my pile. As the time went by —

[SFX: CLINKING OF SINGLE COINS]

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] — I moved the nickels into a pile for the kid. When you’re making money it’s nice to be able to see it happen.

[SFX: BIG PILE OF CHANGE AGAIN]

[NORMAN ROCKWELL CHARACTER] Pretty soon they had all the nickels, and we were done. OK–you can stop now, too. (he says this while stretching too) Everybody stretch! Good job.

Spanish

Norman Rockwell
No Swimming, c. 1921
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post (June 4, 1921)
Oil on canvas

Spanish Adult Audio Tour

[música]

Hombre: Estos tres niños y su perro corren después de haber sido sorprendidos nadando desnudos. Mi padre recorto la imagen y utilizó las sólidas líneas negras que la rodean con el propósito de congelar el momento, como si los niños corrieran hacia el exterior de la página.
En 1921, antes de que mi padre empezara a utilizar fotografías, estos modelos de corta edad tenían que mantener sus poses durante un periodo de tiempo bastante largo. Les ayudaba apilando libros debajo de sus pies, e incluso ideó un sistema de poleas para ayudarlos a mantener los brazos elevados durante periodos prolongados. Aunque trataba de hacer que se sintieran lo más cómodos posibles, inevitablemente empezaban a perder la paciencia.
La solución de mi padre fue colocar una pila de monedas de cinco centavos junto a su caballete. Cada periodo de descanso transfería algunas monedas a una nueva pila, diciéndoles a los modelos que esas eran las monedas que les correspondían a ellos. A medida que las monedas cambiaban de pila, sus modelos estaban más motivados y podían conservar sus poses durante un poco más de tiempo.

[música]

Spanish Family

Norman Rockwell
No Swimming, c. 1921
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post (June 4, 1921)
Oil on canvas

Spanish Family Audio Tour

[música] Norman: Estos niños posaron para que pareciera que acababan de ser sorprendidos nadando en un lugar en donde estaba prohibido hacerlo. Tenían que mantener esas poses por mucho tiempo. Ve si puedes mantener una pose como lo hacen estos niños. Inténtalo. Tienes que quedarte quieto sin moverte todo el tiempo que me tome contarte esta historia.
A estos niños yo les pagaba ¢50 la hora. Claro, claro, en esos días un dulce costaba un centavo. Así que ellos posaban mientras conversábamos.
¿Sabías que puedo hipnotizar gallinas?
Niño: ¿En serio?
Norman: Sí, solo tienes que mecer a la gallina para delante y para atrás, como a un bebé, unas cuantas veces, y se queda dormida.
Niño: ¿Ya terminamos? Yo quiero mis ¢50.
Norman: Pero hasta ahora solo has posado el equivalente a ¢25.