Laura Claridge

Nacida en Rusia en una familia burguesa de origen polaco, a raíz de la Revolución emigró a París, donde entreguerras elaboró sus cuadros más valiosos: retratos y desnudos de técnica impecable inspirados en los maestros del Renacimiento, a los que dotaba de una nueva libertad.

Norman Rockwells tremendously successful, prolific career as a painter and illustrator has rendered him a twentieth-century American icon. However, the very popularity and accessibility of his idealized, nostalgic depictions of middleclass life have caused him to be considered not a serious artist but a mere illustratora disparagement only reinforced by the hundreds of memorable covers he drew for The Sunday Evening Post.Symptomatic of critics neglect is the fact that Rockwell has never before been the subject of a serious critical biography. Based on private family archives and interviews and publishes to coincide with a major two-year travelling retrospective of his work, this book reveals for the first time the driven workaholic who had three complicated marriages and was a distant father so different from the loving, all-American-dad image widely held to this day. Critically acclaimed author Laura Claridge also breaks new ground with her reappraisal of Rockwells art, arguing that despite his popular sentimental style, his artistry was masterful, complex, and far more manipulative than people realize.

What would Emily Post do? Even today, Americans cite the author of the perennial bestseller Etiquette as a touchstone for proper behavior. But who was the woman behind the myth, the authority on good manners who has outlasted all comers? Award-winning author Laura Claridge presents the first authoritative biography of the unforgettable woman who changed the mindset of millions of Americans, an engaging book that sweeps from the Gilded Age to the 1960s.