Rockwell's Americana

Yesterday we made our first trip to the Berkshires, the quaint little towns in the rolling Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts. We ended up in Stockbridge, once home of Norman Rockwell and current home of his museum. The town was just as cute as we expected it to be, with a main street filled with old-fashioned little stores, historic inns, and adorable farm houses and cottages.

I couldn't resist going to the Rockwell museum and I really enjoyed it. While I'm quite familiar with his pictures, I don't remember ever seeing his actual paintings, although I'm sure I must have at some point. Anyhow, seeing some of his classic paintings up close was really impressive and the gallery with all of his covers from the Saturday Evening Post was fascinating. Seeing the chronology of the covers was a visual American history lesson. I also learned some new things about Rockwell, including his profound sense of tolerance and social justice. Some of his works on that theme were quite bold for the times.

Rockwell was also interested in the debate between urban versus rural (or in his case, small town) living. Since this is one of Eddie's favorite debates as well, it's not surprising that we spent the ride home discussing why we should live in the Berkshires and commute to work, especially since it's only about 45 minutes to Albany. Aside from my usual retort of not wanting to commute to work anymore, I just checked the real estate listings for Stockbridge and the earliest we'll be able to afford a modest home there is when I become a full professor. For now the discussion has been tabled.