You recognize a masterpiece when you see one. And this cover of the "Evening Post" by Amos Sewell is a masterpiece. Absolutely great! Amos Sewell (1901 -1983) is not known as a great artist, but if the purpose of a work of art is to carry a message, and to carry a message that resonates with the viewers, this image is on a par with the great masterpieces of the past.
Think about the challenge: one page -- one image. No text whatsoever. And, yet, Sewell tells us a whole story in a single image, a story that resonates with us, some 60 years later. It is a feat that many Renaissance artists managed in their paintings, and I think Sewell did just as well.
So, we see a housewife relaxing on her sofa. The furniture is stunningly 1950s. In the background, a group of children walking toward the school bus. The housewife is completely sure that they are safe: no need to watch that they do board the bus. We can imagine her having prepared breakfast for them and, earlier on, for her husband. And now, she can enjoy a moment of peace for herself, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Note her slightly open legs, a position she would never take in public. And the cigarette pack on the small table: an admission of a minor sin soon to be committed. Her expression alone is a masterpiece.
For us, it is a world so distant and so different that we might think we are seeing the cover of one of the science fiction magazines of the time, with their bug-eyed monsters and their intrepid astronauts armed with ray guns.
Can you believe that there was an age when most children would walk to school alone in the US? People walking around without being scared of other people, crime, guns, viruses, everything? And no one was fat! On the covers of the Evening Post, everyone is lean and fit. And that was not a distortion of reality, the photos of the time show that people were lean and fit at that time.
Not that the world of the 1950s was perfect. On the Post covers, there were only white people. The poor did not exist. Yet, it was still a nice dream of a peaceful world where everyone had a reasonably prosperous life. It was a period when the inequality in the US was at a historical low.
Unfortunately, at some point, we had to wake up, and it was a big hangover. Now, it has become even worse.
