With American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell, author Deborah Solomon considers the work of one of America’s best-known illustrators in a fresh light. Solomon makes the case for a critical reevaluation of the artist’s work, finding soul and integrity in what some others have dismissed as kitsch and commercialism. Rockwell the artist is also considered: What motivated him to capture these images of quintessential Americana? Why was he drawn to certain subjects more than others?

Solomon recently spoke with us about the artist, his work and recent speculation regarding his sexuality.

Biographile: Rockwell once said that he painted life as he wished it would be, but he was an outsider to the way of life depicted in his paintings. He wasn’t religious and could be aloof and cold. With this being the case, why did he choose to create the art he did? Was it purely a matter of money?

Deborah Solomon: No, if it were simply a matter of money then he would have been a hack. And the point of my book is that he was not a hack. He was a true artist in the sense that his work sprang from emotional necessity and amounts to its own universe, freestanding and totally distinct.

I think he was a poet of childhood and you can make a case that his work gave him a chance to rewrite the story of his unsatisfactory childhood.

BIOG: In your book you examine the possibility that Rockwell may have been gay. Coming out would have utterly destroyed his career during his lifetime. If he was gay, do you think the repression he suffered through affected his art in any way?

DB: I feel this part of my book has been woefully misconstrued. I never state that Rockwell was gay. Rather, I point out that he was essentially a figure painter who mostly painted male figures and often lamented that he could not paint a sexy woman. I do think he was more interested in the male figure than the female figure, which was unusual in an era when magazine covers favored attractive women, just as they continue to do now.

BIOG: So are you saying the subject of his work was homoerotic?

DB: Look. If I were to tell you that Picasso painted women more than men and was probably attracted to women, no one would find that controversial. So why is it considered controversial to point out that Rockwell liked to paint men?

BIOG: How do you think we should we look at his art now?

DB: The same way we look at any other art. There is art that moves us -- that speaks to us emotionally -- and art that simply adds to the amount of nonsense in the world. Rockwell's work definitely moves me.