Quote:
Originally Posted by nota
rockwell signed posters go for 2000 to 12500
his originals go for 30,000 up up up
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While your brother and Rockwell were both artists, as you probably know, they worked in two very different worlds; Rockwell was an illustrator who painted for the masses whereas your brother was a fine artist who painted for himself. I would wager he (your brother) had very little, if any, concern regarding how the man on the street responded to his work. Had he and Rockwell been acquaintances I suspect that they would have had little in common to talk about regarding art beyond the craft of painting - they were "about" very different things.
Rockwell is a giant among illustrators and has a huge audience of admirerers, which is what makes his work valuable, both in the historic and the monetary sense. The audience of fine artists such as your brother is always tiny in comparison to the audience of popular artists - and the competition for patrons and buyers much stiffer.
What I'm saying is that, if Rockwell is mentioned in art history texts (and I don't know that he is), he will be defined as an important illustrator, whereas if your brother is mentioned he will be defined in terms of the importance of his work relating to the artistic movements of his time, the avant-garde (vanguard), not his popular appeal or financial sucess.