Norman Rockwell Museum

Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, LA
October 14, 2012 – January 6, 2013

Girl Reading The Post ©1941 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

For nearly fifty years, millions of Americans brought Norman Rockwell’s art into their homes, enjoying the artist’s Saturday Evening Post covers while seated in their favorite chairs, surrounded by their belongings in the company of their families. This intimate connection with Rockwell’s art made his images a part of the fabric of American lives. This comprehensive exhibition of original Saturday Evening Post cover tear sheets features each of Norman Rockwell’s illustrations for the publication, created between 1916 and 1963.

Continue Reading

American Chronicles in transit

Norman Rockwell Museum Associate Registrar Rob Doane, Exhibitions Manager Russell Horton, and Collections Manager Martin Mahoney (left to right) put Rockwell on the road again this Fall.  American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, the Museum’s national traveling exhibition, was recently packed for transit and accompanied by curatorial staff to warmer environs for its recent opening at the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. By all reports, the exhibition is beautifully installed, and is complimented by many exciting learning opportunities throughout its stay in Florida, which is ongoing until February 7, 2010. After its close, our staff will hit the open road again, this time traveling to Wichita, Kansas, where American Chronicles opens on March 6, 2010.

“Couriering reflects what registrar’s do best, which is to ensure the care, condition, and safety of artworks,” said Martin Mahoney. “When we unpack Norman Rockwell’s paintings at other museum sites, the enthusiasm of staff who have grown up with Rockwell images, but who may be seeing his original paintings for the first time, is palpable. This aspect of the experience is always rewarding and is just the beginning, since audiences expressing similar sentiments will soon follow.” After packing and loading artworks for travel, couriers “ride shot-gun in direct non-stop transit,” often for many hours until reaching their final destination. After unloading, unpacking, and checking the condition of each object, curatorial staff oversee the installation before heading back to Stockbridge to take on their next challenge.

Continue Reading

Reference photo for Norman Rockwell's "Day in the Life of a Little Girl," 1952. Photo montage created by Ron Schick. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum.

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA
November 7, 2009 through May 31, 2010

Photography has been a benevolent tool for artists from Thomas Eakins and Edgar Degas to David Hockney. And to illustrators, always on the lookout for better ways to meet deadlines, the camera has long been a natural ally. But the thousands of photographs Norman Rockwell created as studies for his iconic images are a case apart. A natural storyteller, Rockwell envisioned his narrative scenarios down to the smallest detail. Yet at the easel he was an absolute literalist who rarely painted directly from his imagination.

Instead, he first brought his ideas to life in studio sessions, staging photographs that are fully realized works of art in their own right. Selecting props and locations, choosing and directing his models, he carefully orchestrated each element of his design for the camera before beginning to paint. Meticulously composed and richly detailed, Norman Rockwell’s study photographs mirror his masterworks in a tangible parallel universe. Photography opened a door to the keenly observed authenticity that defines Norman Rockwell’s art. And for us today it is a revelation to discover that so many of his most memorable characters were, in fact, real people.

Curator and author Ron Schick is the first to undertake a frame-by-frame study of the Norman Rockwell Museum’s newly digitized photography archive, the product of a just-completed two-year “Save America’s Treasures” project that has preserved the artist’s archive of almost 20,000 negatives and made accessible the full range of the artist’s photography. His forthcoming book, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera, will be published by Little, Brown and Company in 2009.

Continue Reading

"No Swimming," Norman Rockwell. 1921. Oil on canvas, 25 1/2" x 22 1/4". Cover illustration for "The Saturday Evening Post," June 4, 1921. ©1921 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum.

 
Wichita Art Museum; Wichita, Kansas
March 7, 2010 - May 30, 2010

North Carolina Museum of Art; Raleigh, North Carolina
November 6, 2010 – January 30, 2011

Tacoma Art Museum; Tacoma, Washington
February 26, 2011 – May 30 , 2011

Dayton Art Institute; Dayton, Ohio
November 12, 2011 – February 5, 2012

Winnipeg Art Gallery; Winnipeg,
Canada                                                                
March 3, 2012 – May 27, 2012

Crocker Art Museum; Sacramento, California
November 10, 2012 – February 2, 2013

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Bentonville, Arkansas
March 7, 2013 – June 2, 2013

One of the most popular American artists of the past century, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) was a keen observer of human nature and a gifted storyteller. For nearly seven decades, while history was in the making all around him, Rockwell chronicled our changing society in the small details and nuanced scenes of ordinary people in everyday life, providing a personalized interpretation—albeit often an idealized one—of American identity. His depictions offered a reassuring visual haven during a time of momentous transformation as our country evolved into a complex, modern society. Rockwell’s contributions to our visual legacy, many of them now icons of American culture, have found a permanent place in our national psyche.

Continue Reading

Extra Good Boys and Girls (Santa at the Map) ©1939 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

Ella Sharpe Museum of Art & History, Jackson, MI
October 23, 2010 - January 8, 2011

Stauth Memorial Museum, Montezuma, Kansas
December 11, 2011 – February 4, 2012

During his forty-seven year affiliation with The Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell was celebrated for his special holiday cover illustrations, which were commissioned to mark a full spectrum of annual events for an enthusiastic public, from Thanksgiving, Christmas and The New Year to Valentine’s Day and April Fools’ Day.

Throughout the decades, his holiday depictions shifted in subject and style, resulting in a broad range of imagery inspired by both the past and the present.

This exhibition featuring original Saturday Evening Post cover tearsheets includes many of Norman Rockwell’s most memorable and enduring holiday images.

Continue Reading

Will Arrives (detail) by James Gurney ©2006 James Gurney

Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington
February 4, 2010 through May 16, 2010

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
June 5, 2010 through September 5, 2010

James Gurney’s Dinotopia bring the worlds of science and the imagination to life by chronicling Arthur and Will Denison’s remarkable experiences on a lost island in vibrant color and meticulous detail. Recounted in words and pictures in the best-selling book series, Dinotopia: A Land Apart From Time (1992), Dinotopia: The World Beneath (1995), and Dinotopia: First Flight (1999), the artist’s compelling tale has engaged and enchanted readers by inviting them to explore the far reaches of a mysterious destination. Waterfall City, the island’s center of learning, The Hatchery, birthplace of many of Dinotopia’s prehistoric inhabitants, and The Forbidden Mountains, where dinosaurs dare not venture, are just a few of the places described in Arthur Denison’s fictional journal and in the outstanding works on view.

Inspired by a deep and abiding interest in archaeology, lost civilizations, and the art of illustration, James Gurney invites viewers to enter a fantastical world in which dinosaurs and humans live side-by-side. His luminous paintings, beautifully crafted drawings and hand-made models, which are featured in this exhibition, explore the wonders of the distant past through the lens of the imagination. The artist’s original New York Times bestseller, Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, appears in eighteen languages with over two million copies sold. Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara, the next installment in the series, has been released and is now available.

Continue Reading

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin White Washing the Fence

Averitt Center for the Arts, Statesboro, GA
March 12, 2010 through May 7, 2010

Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona, MN
June 15, 2010 through August 8, 2010

In 1935, George Macy, the publisher of the Heritage Press and Limited Editions Club books, invited Norman Rockwell to illustrate Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Rockwell visited Hannibal, Missouri, Twain’s boyhood town, to find authentic details to include in his work. Twain’s vivid descriptions of character, setting and mood were an inspiration to the illustrator, who considered each of the writer’s scenes to be “complete and perfect to the last detail.”

The sixteen signed limited edition prints from Rockwell’s own collection comprise this exhibition featuring the artist’s timeless images for these American classics.

Continue Reading

 El Paso Museum of Art, Texas
June 12, 2011 – September 4, 2011

Picturing Health: Norman Rockwell and the Art of Illustration will feature original paintings by Norman Rockwell from the Pfizer Collection, which are among the finest examples of the artist’s imagery for advertising. These beloved portrayals inspired Americans to view themselves and their physicians with optimism, and presented the notion that health is affected as much by our emotional lives as by our physical well-being.

Norman Rockwell’s paintings, which explore the subjects of the doctor/patient relationship, physical fitness, and health and healing across the generations, will be accompanied by original works exploring similar themes by twenty of today’s most prominent visual commentators. Artworks created for publication during the past decade will examine contemporary perspectives on subjects explored more than fifty years ago in Norman Rockwell’s art. Commentary focusing on recurring themes, artistic and cultural influences, and the commercial climate that has influenced the creative process will be woven throughout the exhibition. A designated segment of the exhibition will offer insights into the artist’s process, from first idea to finished painting and published work. The exhibition will also explore the impact of narrative images, which have had, and continue to have, a singular impact on public perception.

Continue Reading