| Artist's Profile: 
                            Norman Rockwell (2/3/1894 
                            – 11/8/1978) Norman 
                              Rockwell was born in New York City in 1894. He attended 
                              the New York School of Art at the age of 14 and 
                              he had already earned a commission for four Christmas 
                              card oil paintings by the age of 16. He also studied 
                              at the National Academy of Design and at the Art 
                              Students League, where he was taught by Thomas Fogarty 
                              and George Bridgman.  Rockwell's 
                              first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age 18 
                              with his first book illustration for C.H. Claudy's 
                              "Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature". 
                              During his lifetime he illustrated over 40 more 
                              books including the ever-popular "Tom Sawyer 
                              and Huckleberry Finn". Early in 
                              his career, Rockwell produced illustrations for 
                              the "Nicholas Magazine", the Boy Scouts 
                              of America publication "Boys' Life", and 
                              other juvenile publications. By the age of 19, he 
                              was working as an art director for "Boy's Life". 
                               Rockwell 
                              submitted his first successful cover painting to 
                              the "Post" at the age of 22. "Boy 
                              with Baby Carriage" was published on May 20, 
                              1916 and was followed by 321 more covers over the 
                              next 47 years. Rockwell's success on the cover of 
                              the "Post" led to covers for over 80 other 
                              magazines, most notably "The Literary Digest", 
                              "The Country Gentleman", "Leslie's", 
                              "Judge", "Peoples Popular Monthly" 
                              and "Life" magazine.In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted 
                              the "Four Freedoms". The series was inspired 
                              by a speech made by Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 
                              16, 1941. In his speech, he had declared that there 
                              were four principles for universal rights: Freedom 
                              from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, 
                              and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were first 
                              published by "The Saturday Evening Post" 
                              in four consecutive issues. The pictures became 
                              extremely popular and reprints of the covers were 
                              sold in vast quantities.
 The U.S. 
                              Treasury Department promoted war bonds by exhibiting 
                              the original "Four Freedoms" paintings 
                              in 16 cities. The paintings were seen by 1,222,000 
                              people who purchased over $133,000,000 in war bonds. 
                              Later, posters were made from the paintings and 
                              distributed as an incentive for war bond purchases. 
                              No paintings by any other American artist were ever 
                              published on such a global scale. One version of 
                              his "Freedom of Speech" painting is in 
                              the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
                              and the preliminary study for "Freedom of Speech" 
                              set an auction record at $407,000. Rockwell and his son, Thomas, wrote his autobiography, 
                              "My Adventures as an Illustrator", in 
                              1960. The "Post" printed excerpts from 
                              this book in eight consecutive issues, the first 
                              containing Rockwell's famous "Triple Self-Portrait" 
                              on the cover. His last painting for the "Post" 
                              was published in 1963. He spent the next 10 years 
                              painting for "Look" magazine, where his 
                              work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty 
                              and space exploration.
 Rockwell was commissioned to paint portraits for 
                              Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, 
                              as well as other world figures, including Gamal 
                              Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1977 he received 
                              the Presidential Medal of Freedom for "vivid 
                              and affectionate portraits of our country", 
                              the United States of America's highest civilian 
                              honor. Rockwell was also a recipient of the Silver 
                              Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by 
                              the Boy Scouts of America.
 During his 
                              long career, Rockwell produced illustrations for 
                              booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie 
                              promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, 
                              and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy", 
                              which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in 
                              Princeton, New Jersey). He also made annual contributions 
                              for the Boy Scouts' calendars (1925 – 1976). 
                              He painted the very popular "Four Seasons" 
                              Calendar illustrations for Brown & Bigelow, 
                              which continues to be reproduced in various styles 
                              and sizes.Norman Rockwell painted over 2000 original works 
                              in his lifetime, but many were destroyed by fire. 
                              He is most famous for his "Saturday Evening 
                              Post" cover illustrations. For four decades 
                              his illustrations mirrored life in the early 20th 
                              century, celebrating ordinary Americans at work 
                              and at play. He painted the America he knew and 
                              considered himself a storyteller.
 Norman Rockwell 
                              died at the age of 84. The Rockwell 
                              Museum has custodianship of 574 of his original 
                              paintings and drawings. Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge 
                              studio was also moved to the site and is open to 
                              the public between May and October every year. The 
                              studio and its contents include the artist's materials 
                              and equipment; his personal art library of approximately 
                              500 volumes; furnishings; decorative objects; ethnographic 
                              objects collected on his travels; mementos; hundreds 
                              of prints; and artwork sent by fans and admirers. 
                              You can visit the Norman Rockwell Museum at 9 Glendale 
                              Road, Route 183, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. |