![Norman Rockwell - Road Block (Bulldog Blocking Truck, Traffic Conditions) [1949]](http://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7632/26674038203_d26c3999b5_b.jpg)
During the 1940s Rockwell made several trips to California, where he painted the present work. The composition is derived from a unique synthesis of photography, preparatory sketches, live models and the artist’s own imagination. “I got the basic idea from my old friend, Clyde Forsythe, a cartoonist and landscape painter who had been a good and helpful friend for many years” Rockwell explained of the painting’s genesis. “He told me of seeing a whole line of traffic stalled by a pup sitting unconcernedly in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. It seemed to me that the idea had picture possibilities and I started thinking about it and made some rough sketches. At first it seemed to me that a great big truck stopped by a small truck would be even funnier. Then one day I happened to walk down a narrow alley in Los Angeles where I was working at the time and the idea of a big truck stuck in a narrow alley came to me. The idea of the truck, the pup, the alley and a lot of excited people just seemed right.”
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on board, 76.2 x 58.4 cm]