Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted Access (SIA Only)

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Leo Krakowsky

Second Advisor

Morgan Falconer

Abstract

This capstone examines how genre paintings construct, rather than merely reflect, the social norms of their time through a comparative study of two artists working centuries apart: Johannes Vermeer in the Dutch Golden Age and Norman Rockwell in mid-twentieth-century America. Although both artists depict ordinary life, their works reveal how images subtly shape cultural expectations surrounding gender, class, and moral behavior. Using close visual analysis and drawing on theoretical frameworks from scholars including John Berger, Griselda Pollock, T. J. Clark, Linda Nochlin, and  many others, this project argues that genre painting functions as a cultural tool that teaches viewers how to interpret identity and social hierarchy. Through the selected case studies, Vermeer’s Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid and The Procuress, and Rockwell’s Girl at Mirror and Skiers on a Train, this capstone demonstrates how each artist constructs selective visions of everyday life that both align with and complicate their societies’ ideals, respectively. Where Vermeer uses domestic interiors to elevate feminine purity and middle-class virtue, works like The Procuress expose the contradictions beneath such ideals. Rockwell, by contrast, offers emotional clarity and staged harmony that comfort a nation grappling with modernity, consumerism, and gender expectations. The concluding discussion situates these historical examples within our society’s contemporary visual culture, showcasing how the curated self-presentation persists through social media and advertising. Ultimately, this project argues that the visual strategies used by Vermeer and Rockwell remain central to understanding how societies construct identity, belonging, and moral order, all revealing how genre painting has remained an enduring form of cultural storytelling.

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