Out of the Shadows: Norman Rockwell, Navajos, and American Politics

Norman Rockwell's painting of Glen Canyon Dam represented the prevailing political situation in North America in 1969. The painting was a representation of the conflicting views regarding the nature between the Native Americans and the American citizens. Norman Rockwell produced the painting to reflect the social upheaval of the emerging Red Power movement and to celebrate the dam. He used spatial relationships and a rich color scheme in the painting to reflect on the political issues and economic tensions of that period without getting directly involved in those issues. It was observed that Rockwell sought to increase the visibility of Native Americans in the 1970s with this painting of a landscape involved in environmental controversy.