Visibility and Rhetoric

The Power of Visual Images in Norman Rockwell's Depictions of Civil Rights

Bibliographic Data

ID9238902
AuthorsVictoria J Gallagher (0000-0001-7671-9845, Issues Research, corresponding author), Victoria Gallagher, Kenneth S Zagacki
Year2005
Volume91
Issue2
Pages175-200
Publication date2005-05-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueQuarterly Journal of Speech (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-5630 • E-ISSN: 1479-5779
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00335630500291448
OpenAlexW2117339325
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited3

This essay demonstrates how visual works of art may operate rhetorically to articulate public knowledge, to illustrate the moral challenges facing citizens, and to shape commemorative practices, through an analysis of Norman Rockwell's civil rights paintings of the 1960s. By examining the rhetorical aspects of these paintings, including their form and composition, the essay demonstrates the power of visual works of art to evoke common humanity in three significant ways: (1) disregarding established caricatures; (2) creating recognition of others through particularity; and (3) depicting material aspects of American society, thereby reminding viewers that abstract political concepts are always relative to the individuals or groups whose lives are most directly influenced by their presence or absence

Aesthetics · Art · Civil rights · Civil society · Composition (language) · Humanity · Linguistics · Literature · Media studies · Painting · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Visual arts · Visual rhetoric · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Visual Culture and Art Theory

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