Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell

In his more than 2,000 artworks Norman Rockwell created a pictorial history of his times and illuminated the lives of his fellow Americans with gifted warmth and insight.

He had the unique capacity to communicate with people of all ages, and his work has been reproduced more often than Michelangelo, Picasso and Rembrandt put together.

Marshall Stoltz, curator of The Norman Rockwell Museum, observes that Rockwell "was as much at ease painting kings, statesmen and movie stars as he was painting freckled-faced boys, pigtailed girls, kindly old people and love able dogs."

Rockwell gained national prominence as an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post, Life, Look, Boy's Life, Boy Scout calendars, and major advertisers, all of which brought him close to the hearts of people the world over," Stoltz said.

The man who was to become the 20th Century's most popular American artist and illustrator was born in a shabby brownstone in New York City on Feb. 3, 1894. At age 5 Rockwell was taken to see Admiral Dewey's triumphal parade in New York after the Spanish American War. Later, the youngster made childish drawings of America's warships.

He attended the Chase School of Fine and Applied Arts and the National Academy of Design. As a teenager his work was popular with the young people's magazines. Called the "boy illustrator," at age 19, he became the first art editor of Boy's Life Magazine. In 1916 he walked into the offices of the Saturday Evening Post and sold a Post cover to editor George Lorimer, and his career as a successful professional artist was on its way.

In those days, large-scale magazine color illustration was America's most powerful mass media outlet. By 1920 Rockwell was the Post's top cover illustrator, and by 1925 he had become a national name. As Rockwell matured he developed a style of finely drawn, clear realism with a wealth of anecdotal detail.

Much of his work was for the Boy Scouts of America's calendar series. He also illustrated many Scout handbooks.

One of his most distinguished Projects was a series of more than 70 sketches depicting the American Family for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, a collection which is now on display at The Norman Rockwell Museum .

In World War II Rockwell helped raise millions of dollars for the government by designing the "four freedoms" of the Atlantic Charter, which were used on U.S. government war bonds. He gained further recognition with his moon-shot paintings, now in the Smithsonian Institution .

Rockwell was named "artist of the year" in 1969 by his colleagues of the Artists Guild of New York. And, in 1976, former President Ford presented him with the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest decoration for civilian Americans.

Following his early years in New York, Rockwell moved to Arlington, VT. In 1943 a fire in his studio destroyed many of his original paintings. Over the years many other paintings simply disappeared, including many original paintings prepared for Post covers.

Rockwell moved to Stockbridge, Mass., in 1953 and in 1957 bought an old house that once belonged to Aaron Burr across from the famous Red Lion Inn, remodeling the carriage house-barn into his new and last studio.

Norman Rockwell continued his productive life as an artist and illustrator in this studio until his death on Nov. 9, 1978.