Russian schoolchildren

The painting was commissioned by the American magazine “ ”, whose editors decided to release a series of articles on the Soviet Union in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution . There is an opinion that Norman Rockwell was never in the Soviet Union, and the photographs used as a basis, he found in the journal " Family and School " ^[2] . However, in Rockwell’s biography written by , there is a mention of a trip to the USSR ^[3] :

[Magazine] “Look” at the same time was planning a special article in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Rockwell was commissioned an illustration with a typical Russian classroom, so they and Molly went for two weeks to Moscow for the second time, in June. They were met at the airport by Christopher S. Ren, an American journalist who, at that time, was covering life in the USSR for Look magazine. From the first minute he met, Ren found Rockwell “very amiable and relaxed.” I was surprised at how pleasant he was. ”

Ren, who was fluent in Russian, used his translation skills to help Rockwell get into Moscow school. Later, he recalled that Rockwell had already taken some photographs of a group of students “sitting in their pioneer ties” when Russian officials intervened. They objected to the artist’s request when he asked one of the students to look out the window to portray a boy who cannot sit still, a child that he was once.

The school administration wanted students to be portrayed as diligent little communists. “Everyone should have been sealed only looking forward,” Wren recalled, “and they were very interested in how much Norman was against the USSR if he asked the student to look out the window.” “American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell,” Deborah Solomon ^[3]

The painting "Russian Schoolchildren" was bought by Jack Solomon in 1968. In June 1973, she was abducted from an art gallery in Clayton ( St. Louis , Missouri ). The next 15 years, nothing was known about her whereabouts, but in 1988 the painting was auctioned in New Orleans and went under the hammer for about $ 70 thousand. In 1989, director Steven Spielberg acquired the picture, now called the Russian Class, for $ 200,000 from an official art dealer who, according to Spielberg, guaranteed the legality of the transaction. In 2007, Spielberg's assistant found a mention of a painting in the register of stolen art objects from the FBI .

Currently, Rockwell's painting is estimated at 700 thousand dollars. The gallery owner Solomon went bankrupt in 1996 filed a lawsuit against Spielberg and the FBI, claiming that the bureau was aware of the origin of the painting, but took no action. Art dealer Judy Hoffman Cutler is suing Solomon and the British Art Loss Register. She claims that their investigation led to the termination of the contract between her and Spielberg. The damage she estimated at 25 million dollars.

In April 2010, a decision was made in this case, according to which Spielberg had the legal right to work Rockwell, and he did not need to refuse it. The judge took into account the fact that in 1988 FBI officers saw the picture put up for auction, conducted an investigation and came to the conclusion that the issue of its affiliation was settled and the sale of Russian Schoolchildren would be legal. Putting Rockwell on the wanted list was a simple mistake. It turned out that in 1988 Solomon saw the missing picture at the auction, contacted the auction house and received compensation of $ 20 thousand from an insurance company.

• Steven Spielberg had problems because of the "Russian schoolchildren . " - July 17, 2007.
• "Russian schoolchildren" brought Spielberg to court . - July 16, 2007.
• For Steven Spielberg recognized the right to "Russian schoolchildren . " - 04/20/2010.