Two of 28 conserved anatomical drawings by artist George Bridgman from Norman Rockwell Museum’s permanent collection. Courtesy Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

e damaged drawings were taken to Williamstown Art Conservation Center (WACC) in nearby Williamstown, MA, where they received treatment in 2012 and 2013 under a generous grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). WACC is the largest regional conservation center in the United States, housed in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute’s Stone Hill Center.

The 28 drawings are part of a larger gift of more than 100 Bridgman study drawings that had been donated to the Museum in 2010. Anticipating their return, the Museum purchased a state-of-the-art Staba Arte flat-file cabinet to re-house and protect all the drawings. With the return of the treated drawings, the entire Bridgman collection is now available to researchers and curators who wish to include them in future exhibitions.

In the context of American art history, the Bridgman collection has great historic and artistic importance. One of the great anatomists of the last century, Bridgman’s influence on 20th century American art – from illustration and commercial imagery to abstract expressionism and post-modernism – is deep. He is best known for his popular life drawing and anatomy books that are still used today.

Studying under Jean-Lêon Gérômé (1824-1904) at the École des Beaux-Arts and later with Parisian figure painter Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888), Bridgman established a unique technique for capturing human anatomy, gesture, and details by representing parts of the body as geometric forms. As an instructor at the Art Students League in New York for 45 years, he taught nearly 70,000 students – many who would go on to become some of our most significant artists. Among them were sculptor Paul Manship (best known for the statue Prometheus at Rockefeller Center), painter-muralist Gifford Beal, comic creator Will Eisner, illustrator Edmund F. Ward, illustrator Andrew Loomis, artist/teacher Kimon Nicolaides (known for his widely-used book, “The Natural Way to Draw”), abstractionist Arshile Gorky, abstract expressionist Jackson Pollack, Peter Max, and Norman Rockwell.

Bridgman was an inspiring presence for the young Rockwell, who began his studies at the Art League in 1911 and spoke highly of him in his 1960 autobiography, “My Adventures as an Illustrator.” “We worshipped George Bridgman,” Rockwell wrote.

The Bridgman drawings had not been easily accessible to researchers for decades, nor have they been presented in public exhibitions. Prior to their transfer to Norman Rockwell Museum, all the drawings had been rolled and stored in tubes in an attic-space for more than 75 years. Museum staff carefully unrolled the drawings to allow an onsite inspection by WACC. 28 were selected for immediate treatment – with the four largest needing “urgent” treatment due to their fragile condition. These were sent to Williamstown in July 2012, and the last of the treated drawings were returned to the Museum in April 2013.

The treated drawings – along with the entire Bridgman collection – provide scholars and curators with an unparalleled resource on how Bridgman constructed his lessons and taught figure drawing in the classroom and through his books. 

“Snow White Dancing with Dopey and Sneezy. Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy Playing Music.” Disney Studio Artist Reproduction cel setup; ink and acrylic on cellulose acetate. Courtesy Walt Disney Animation Research Library. ©Disney.

The news is in: Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic is a hit. Here is a sampling of some of the recent press regarding our new exhibition:

“Exhibit looks at the work behind classic ‘Snow White’” Boston Globe, June 1, 2013

For diehard fans, the exhibition should seem positively enchanted. But even those with a simple fondness for illustration or curiosity about the collaborative process of big-studio animation will find a wealth of material to gorge on…

“The artists working behind animated films, whether it’s cels or today’s computer-generated 3-D, are impeccably trained illustrators and artists,” Norman Rockwell Museum director and CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt says. “We encourage people to think about the creative process that goes into the making of a film, or just a cover you might see on The New Yorker, and realize that an artist created that.”

“Norman Rockwell Museum to unveil new exhibit about Snow White’s inspiration,”Berkshire Eagle, June 2, 2013:

Among 200 young ladies in 1934 Marge Champion was the fairest of them all.

Walt Disney Pictures was looking for a young lady to inspire the movements of the titular character in the first feature-length animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

They found that inspiration in 14-year-old Champion, now 93, who has divided her time between the Berkshires and New York City since 1979.

“They needed to see how a young girl moved, and how her dress moved around her, especially when dancing with the dwarves,” Champion said during an interview at her Stockbridge home…

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. “I was just doing an improvisation of whatever the animators showed me on the storyboards.”

“Snow White and Witch with Poisoned Apple,” Gustaf Tengrren. Book illustration; watercolor and ink on paper. Courtesy Walt Disney Family Foundation; ©Disney

“Snow White: The creation of a classic,” Berkshire Eagle, June 7, 2013: 

“I think people will be surprised by the beautiful watercolors created to plot out angles, such as the scenes of the dwarfs chasing the witch up the mountain,” said Lella Smith, who, as creative director of the Walt Disney Company’s Animation Research Library, is the guest curator of the Rockwell exhibition. “They are like exquisite little paintings. The exhibit will enable people to see what a collaborative, work-intensive effort went into making this movie…”

The exhibition’s presence at the Rockwell museum is an extension of the long professional and personal relationship between Walt Disney and Norman Rockwell. A painting Rockwell gave to Disney inscribed to ” one of the really great artists, from an admirer, Norman Rockwell” was donated to the Rockwell Museum by Diane Disney Miller…

“Disney and Rockwell were both makers of pop icons, and both celebrated great art and shared their artistic visions with the world,” says Moffatt. “They weren’t competitors, they inspired each other, and they liked each other as well.”

“Rockwell Museum exhibit captures the magic of making ‘Snow White’,” Schenectady Gazette, June 8, 2013

“I want people to take away the feeling of the intense collaborative effort that was a part of every project of my dad’s,” said Diane Disney Miller. In addition to Walt Disney, 32 animators, 1,032 assistants, 107 in-betweeners, 10 layout artists, 25 background artists, 65 special-effects animators and 158 inkers and painters worked on the film with other production staff.

Miller also wants visitors to be able to see the beauty of the artwork that went into making the film. She notes that the Animation Research Library where much of the exhibition’s art comes from, is a storehouse of beautiful animation art that people don’t often have a chance to see.

Snow White meets a fan at the opening of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic” at Norman Rockwell Museum, June 8, 2013. Photo ©Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Thanks to all who came out for our festive evening gala celebrating the opening of the exhibition, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic. It was truly an enchanted evening, with original art, dinner (courtesy of SOMA Catering), dancing (courtesy of the John Sauer Quartet), and a live auction to support Norman Rockwell Museum. In keeping with the theme, the Museum’s grounds were literally transformed into the look of a storybook, with special effects courtesy of Limelight Productions.

Marge Champion dances with Norton Owen, Jacob Pillow’s Director of Preservation, at the opening of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic” at Norman Rockwell Museum.” Photo ©Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Special thanks goes to our guest of honor, dancer/choreographer Marge Champion, who delighted attendees with her stories of serving as the live reference model for Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when she was just a teenager. Now age 93, it all came full-circle for Champion, as the evening also marked her father, Ernest Belcher’s birthday (she got her start performing for his dance school many years ago in Los Angeles).

In the coming months, the Museum will hold many other exhibition-related programs (watch this space for details). Organized by the Walt Disney Family Museum with Lella Smith, Creative Director of The Walt Disney Company’s Animation Research Library, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic will be on view at Norman Rockwell Museum through October 27, 2013.

View a collection of photos from our Enchanted Evening Gala on Norman Rockwell Museum’s Facebook page.

“Norman Rockwell’s Enchanted Evening,” Rural Intelligence

In 2010 the museum was the recipient of a large gift of study drawings by the turn-of-the-century painter and teacher, George B. Bridgman (1865-1943).  Bridgman was an important teacher of figure drawing and anatomy at the Art Students League in New York City. Bridgman focused on the young student’s need to acquire sufficient skill rendering the human figure in a realistic manner so that they could then do whatever they chose with their paintings. Throughout his successful career as an illustrator, Norman Rockwell believed that it was Bridgman’s teaching those rigorous technical skills with regards to the human figure that were the foundation of his work.

Bridgman not only taught the students in his classes, he also produced a series of books and illustrated drawing manuals that conveyed his figure and anatomy lessons.

The Norman Rockwell Museum is proud to hold in its American illustration collection over 100 drawings by George Bridgman that were a gift to the museum by the Blakeman Family in 2010. From 2012 through 2013 more than a quarter of these drawings were conserved by the Williamstown Art Conservation Center through a grant awarded to the museum by the IMLS (the Institute of Museum and Library Services). Some of the museum’s Bridgman drawings were used in his various books. They provide scholars and curators an unparalleled resource for how Bridgman’s lessons were constructed and how he taught figure drawing in the classroom and through his books.

Illustration by R.O. Blechman and Nicholas Blechman from “Print Magazine,” January 31, 2013. ©R.O. and Nicholas Blechman. All rights reserved.

Stockbridge, MA, June 10, 2013—Norman Rockwell Museum will present a conversation with artists R.O. Blechman and Nicholas Blechman on Saturday, June 15, starting at 5:30 p.m. Spend an evening with two noted visual communicators who also happen to be father and son. R.O. Blechman is an award-winning illustrator and animator whose art has appeared in such publications as “The New Yorker,” “The New York Times,” and “The Huffington Post,” and in memorable advertisements for such companies as Alka-Seltzer and Capezio. Nicholas Blechman is an internationally recognized illustrator, designer and current art director of “The New York Times Book Review,” whose art has appeared in “GQ,” “Travel + Leisure,” ”Wired,” and “The New Yorker.” The art talk is being presented in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibition, “R.O. Blechman: The Inquiring Line, and costs $10, $7 for Museum members.

R.O. Blechman: The Inquiring Line

On view through June 30, 2013

Celebrate the art of R.O. Blechman, an award-winning illustrator, animator, children’s book author, graphic novelist, and editorial cartoonist. Well-known for his memorable advertisements for Alka-Seltzer and Capezio, and for his witty illustrations for “The New Yorker,” “The New York Times,” and “The Huffington Post,” the artist has also received many prestigious professional honors. A member of the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame and Art Directors Hall of Fame, he is also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Cartoonists Society. In 2003, the Museum of Modern Art in New York mounted a retrospective of his animated films. This Distinguished Illustrator exhibition features R.O. Blechman’s imagery for magazines, illustrated books, advertisements, and animations.

Dancer Marge Champion, original model for Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” at the press preview for Norman Rockwell Museum’s new exhibition, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic,” June 7, 2013. Photo ©Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

This morning Norman Rockwell Museum held a press conference to mark the opening of its newest exhibition, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic. In addition to exhibition curator Lella Smith (Creative Director, The Walt Disney Company Animation Research Library) and The Walt Disney Family Museum’s Director of Communications Libby Garrison, we were honored to have award-winning dancer Marge Champion join us and share her memories of serving as a live reference model for Disney’s first full-length animated feature starting in 1934.

Marge Champion (then Marjorie Belcher) was just 13 when she auditioned for the part of Snow White. Out of some 200 girls who auditioned, Marge won the part, helped in part by the ballet training she received from her father’s dance studio in Los Angeles. Ms. Champion remembers improvising many scenes on the Disney Studio soundstage, such as running through a “forest” of ropes hanging from clotheslines and fetching water from a prop wishing well. The animators then studied her filmed performance to understand how to more realistically animate the movement of Snow White.

“The animators weren’t dancers,” Champion told Norman Rockwell Museum during an April 2013 interview. “They could do all the funny, silly things like Goofy… they took those out of their own personalities, but they didn’t know exactly how a young girl moved… how the dress would swing, how heads would turn…” Marge even spent a day dancing as Dopey: “They gave me this big flappy coat, and for a whole day they photographed me doing silly things that I just made up.” The dancer was paid between $10 and $25 a day for her work. “I loved doing it. I even loved doing a very small part like the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio, and the hippopotamus in Fantasia… both of which were done before they released Snow White.”

Reference photo of Marge Champion (then Marjorie Belcher), the live reference model for Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Photo courtesy Marge Champion. ©Disney.

Marge remembers the opening night premiere of Snow White at Hollywood’s Carthay Circle Theater on December 31, 1937, and how moved the audience was by Disney’s groundbreaking film. The movie once referred to as “Walt’s Folly” was an instant success, and even won the first Oscar for an animated feature (a special statuette with seven additional miniature statuettes) at the 1939 Academy Awards. It paved the way for the studio’s prolific run of animated feature films, which continues to this day.

Ms. Champion went on to have success in her own right as an accomplished dancer and choreographer. In the 1940s and 1950s she teamed up with her then-husband Gower Champion, starring in numerous MGM musicals and Broadway shows. A star of stage and screen, she splits her time between New York City and Stockbridge, Massachusetts (home of Norman Rockwell Museum), where she has a part-time residence.

This past Monday, June 3, Marge Champion received the Douglass Watt Lifetime Achievement Award, to honor her inspiring career, at the 2013 Fred Astaire Awards, held in New York City. This weekend she will be further honored at Norman Rockwell Museum’s Enchanted Evening Gala, to celebrate the opening of the Snow White exhibition (you can see examples of her early work in the exhibition). Remarkably young at age 93, she still hasn’t forgotten her first big break, courtesy of “Uncle Walt.”

Dancer Marge Champion (the original model for Disney’s “Snow White”) in New York City. Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum. Photo ©Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”―Walt Disney

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), “Girl Reading the Post,” 1941. Oil on canvas, 35 1/4″ x 27 1/4″. Cover illustration for “The Saturday Evening Post,” March 1, 1941. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections, gift of the Walt Disney Family, 1999. ©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.

Though they worked in distinctly different realms, Walt Disney and Norman Rockwell regarded each other highly. They were personally acquainted, corresponded regularly, and traded gifts of art and memorabilia. Girl Reading the Post, an original cover illustration for March 1, 1941 issue of The Saturday Evening Post stands as a token of their respect and friendship. In 1943, during a stay in Alhambra, California, his wife Mary’s home town, Rockwell gave Disney the painting, inscribing the work, “To Walt Disney, one of the really great artists, from an admirer, Norman Rockwell.”Upon receipt of Girl Reading the Post, Disney penned his appreciation, saying “I can’t begin to thank you … my entire staff have been traipsing up to my office to look at it … to all of them, you are some sort of god.”  To further express his thanks, Disney sent Rockwell a set of ceramic figurines featuring characters from Pinocchio, Bambi and Fantasia.

For years, Girl Reading the Post hung in Disney’s offices, and later, in the home of his daughter, Diane Disney Miller, who was herself a Rockwell model. When Diane was about ten years old, she and her late sister Sharon sat for beautifully-rendered Rockwell portraits. Many years later, she generously donated Girl Reading the Post to the Norman Rockwell Museum, and since then, the painting has been a favorite both here in Stockbridge and while on national tour in American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell. Our appreciation for this incredible gift is as boundless as the esteem that generations Americans have had for her father’s work.

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Don’t miss Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic, opening Saturday, June 8. A small exhibition of correspondence between Norman Rockwell and Walt Disney, from the Norman Rockwell Museum archives, will accompany the exhibition.

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), “Shuffleton’s Barbershop,” 1950. Oil on canvas, 31″ x 33″. Cover illustration for “The Saturday Evening Post,” April 29, 1950. Collection of the Berkshire Museum. Norman Rockwell Museum Digital Collections. ©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.

This weekend one of the finest displays of Norman Rockwell’s artistic talent comes to life, as his stunning 1950 painting Shuffleton’s Barbershop becomes the setting for a new original movie. Starring four-time Emmy nominee Danny Glover, Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop is set to premiere this Saturday, June 1, at 9/8c on the Hallmark Movie Channel.

Similar to how he employed both neighbors and family as subjects, Rockwell also found artistic inspiration from his surroundings. For his highly detailed cover illustration for the April 29, 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, Rockwell turned to Rob Shuffleton’s barbershop in East Arlington, Vermont. After making preliminary sketches, the artist called on his assistant, artist Gene Pelham to photograph the setting. In his 1960 autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, Rockwell recalls that “there were details, accidents of light, which I’d missed when I’d been able to make only quick sketches of a setting… where Rob  hung his combs, his rusty old clippers, the way the light fell across the magazine rack, his moth-eaten push broom leaning against the display cases of candy and ammunition, the cracked leather seat of the barber chair with the stuffing pointing through along the edges over the nickel-plated frame.”

Part of the collection of The Berkshire Museum, Shuffleton’s Barbershop never ceases to inspire its viewers. In addition to its masterful composition and photorealistic rendering, the painting is notable for its intriguing contrasts—between light and dark tones (reminiscent of the 17th century Dutch realists), and the setting of the subjects themselves (classical musicians playing in the back of a modest, rural barbershop)—Rockwell always infused his subjects and settings with a great dignity.

Photo of actors Danny Glover and Dash Pledger-Levine in a scene from “Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop.” Courtesy and ©Crown Media, all rights reserved.

The movie, Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop uses the artist’s painting as the backdrop for a heartwarming story about family. Famous country singer Trey Cole (Austin Stowell) is finally returning  after abandoning his hometown many years ago and never looking back. Now, realizing he’s lost himself along the way, Trey remembers his first haircut in the barbershop of Charlie Shuffleton (Glover), a man who once served as a father figure to him when his own dad was coldly absent during his childhood. Hoping to find guidance from his old friend, he enters the shop to find Charlie’s old friends playing a trio of instruments (just like in Rockwell’s painting) and is saddened to learn about the barber’s recent death. With childhood memories flooding his mind, Trey knows he must face his own father and the family he hardly knows to honor Charlie’s memory and make things right.

Learn more about the movie on the Hallmark Movie Channel’s website, and view this and other original Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover tearsheets at Norman Rockwell Museum this weekend. As they say, the reward is in the details…

Related Links:

Hallmark Movie Channel 

Shuffleton’s prints available in the Norman Rockwell Museum Store

“Rockwell Painting Inspires Movie,” Saturday Evening Post