THE SHINER by N. Rockwell

Link between School & Art

Triumph in Defeat

This document is a painting entitled The Shiner by Norman Rockwell. In this document I can see a little girl on a bench. She has a black eye, she is wearing a checked dress, white socks, brown shoes, she has red hair and brown eyes. She has a plaster on her left knee. The little girl is smiling, she looks both mischievous and happy. Her hair is ruffled. The lace of her shoes comes undone and her shirt is out of her dress. I can see the principal and a woman who can be a teacher or the girl’s mother. The principal is wearing a tie and glasses, he has got blond hair, he is next to the girl’s mother who has got red hair like the little girl and she is wearing white clothes. They look angry. Perhaps the little girl got into a fight because she is black-eyed.

Triumph in Defeat or The Shiner was published in the Saturday Evening Post on May 23rd, 1953. It is a painting by Norman Rockwell, the famous American painter. In this painting we can see a little girl , sitting on a bench . She looks happy BUT she is ugly BECAUSE she has been fighting and she’s got a black eye . We can imagine that she’s waiting to go to the Head’s office BECAUSE she did something forbidden . In the background we can see someone WHO must be the headmaster with another man . We don’t know WHO he is but we can guess THAT he is a supervisor . There are a lot of things hung on the wall. It’s a funny painting BECAUSE the girl has fought and she has got a big smile on her face . The headmaster is smiling too and it makes that painting very funny. This painting is also SO realistic THAT it looks like a photo.