Clown 1925

This painting by Norman Rockwell captures a fleeting moment of action, probably made with oil on some kind of board. The kids are all tangled up in a scrimmage. One is carrying the ball while the other kid is trying to tackle him. I imagine Rockwell watching, brush in hand, trying to catch that awkward, off-balance moment, with the ball just out of reach. You can see the scuffed leather of the football and the worn patches on the player's padded clothing. These details give the painting a sense of reality, even as the scene itself feels a little cartoonish and full of energy. It reminds me of some other figurative painters—Alice Neel, maybe—in how it captures a sense of real life mixed with something slightly surreal. Like he’s saying something about the experience of being a kid, the rough-and-tumble of it all. It makes you think about how we all try to catch hold of something that's always moving just beyond our grasp.