The artwork titled “But wait till next week” is a creation by Norman Rockwell from 1920. This oil on canvas piece is a prime example of Regionalism, a movement that focused on realistic depictions of everyday scenes in America. As a genre painting, it captures a narrative moment reflective of the cultural and social settings of its time. The artwork is currently held in a private collection and is not on public display.
In this detailed oil painting, two young boys are portrayed engaged in what appears to be leisurely misadventure. The boy on the left sports a straw hat and gazes upwards, puffing on a bubble pipe with a look of harmless mischief on his face. The other boy, to the right, leans contentedly against the wooden fence, wearing an oversized hat and smoking a cigar, embodying a comical imitation of adulthood. His expression is one of satisfaction and cheeky pride. Between the wooden planks of the fence, a small dog peers through, its expression one of curiosity or perhaps alarm at the scene unfolding before it. The boys’ clothing and footwear, along with the rustic setting, offer a glimpse into the daily life and pastimes of children in the early 20th century. The sumptuous application of paint and attentive depiction of textures, from the fabric of their clothes to the gleaming surfaces of their playthings, speak to Rockwell’s adeptness with the medium and his ability to capture life-like representations with warmth and humor.
