The descendants of Norman Rockwell are speaking out against social media postings by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they say misuse the artist’s work.
Since this summer, the DHS has shared reproductions of Rockwell’s paintings on its X, Instagram, and Facebook accounts that promote anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The first, posted on August 20, depicts Rockwell’s Salute the Flag (1971) with the caption, “Protect our American way of life.” The painting predominantly features white people in early to mid-20th century clothing revering the US flag. Together, the painting and caption promote a conservative white populace free from diversity.
The second, posted on September 29, showed Rockwell’s Working on the Statue of Liberty (1946), depicting the famous statue’s raised arm, superimposed with the phrase “Protect your homeland and defend your culture,” along with a link encouraging citizens to “become a homeland defender today.” The caption included a quote from former US president Calvin Coolidge, reading, “Those who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America.”
A third, also posted on September 29, featured Rockwell’s And Daniel Boone Comes to Life on the Underwood Portable (1923), depicting a young boy’s vision of the American frontiersman holding a rifle as he writes, accompanied by the caption “Manifest Heroism.”
“If Norman Rockwell were alive today, he would be devastated to see… that his own work has been marshaled for the cause of persecution toward immigrant communities and people of color,” Rockwell’s family wrote in a recently published op-ed article in USA Today.
In the article Rockwell’s family provides crucial context for oeuvre: “Rockwell […] painted more than 4,000 works during his career, many of them depicting what are considered classic scenes from 20th century American life: Boy Scouts, doctor visits, squabbling couples, soda shops, soldiers returning from war, linemen and so much more.
“From 1916 to 1963, he regularly painted covers for the Saturday Evening Post, which by and large depicted only White people. The scarcity of people of color in Rockwell’s paintings has led those who are not familiar with his entire oeuvre to draw the conclusion that his vision was of a White America, free of immigrants and people of color. But nothing could have been further from the truth.”
Rockwell was profoundly impacted by the racial injustices toward Black people in the US, particularly in the Jim Crow South, and the collective activism of the Civil Rights Movement. He used his art to highlight these injustices in a number of paintings, among them, The Problem We All Live With (1964), showing Ruby Bridges being escorted by federal marshals as she integrated an elementary school in New Orleans; Golden Rule (1961), a painting collaging together people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds captioned with the “Golden Rule”; Murder in Mississippi(1965), which accompanied an article about the murder of three civil rights activists in 1964; and New Kids in the Neighborhood (Negro in the Suburbs), 1967, of a Black family integrating a white Chicago suburb.
For his part, Rockwell also acknowledged his own shortcomings. In a 1962 interview, he explained, “I was born a White Protestant with some prejudices that I am continuously trying to eradicate. … I am angry at unjust prejudices, in other people and in myself.”
In a statement of solidarity, the Rockwell family concluded their op-ed by saying, “Now is the time to follow in his footsteps and stand for the values he truly wished to share with us and all Americans: compassion, inclusiveness and justice for all.”
This is not the first time that the DHS has misused artwork on their social media accounts to spread bigotry and hateful rhetoric. In July, the DHS shared Thomas Kinkade’s Morning Pledge with the caption “Protect the Homeland.” The artist’s foundation denounced the usage of the painting to promote “division and xenophobia.”
The DHS also received pushback for posting an image of John Gast’s 1872 painting American Progress, with the caption “A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.” In response, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle, “If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails and forged this Republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook. This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage.”
