Rockwell’s reality made unwitting appearances in his imagery throughout his prolific career—recalling the gleeful pranks of childhood, his art school and fledgling professional years, and the joys and challenges of being a husband and father. For Rockwell, a strong visual story concept was “the first thing and the last thing,” and almost any subject could serve as inspiration for his highly visible art. As noted by Rockwell’s eldest son, Jarvis, his family felt that they were “living out the cover of a Saturday Evening Post,” perhaps no surprise, as perceived authenticity was a mark of success for the artist.

Works spanning Rockwell’s career will be featured, including The Stay at Homes (Outward Bound), a poignant illustration created for the October 1927 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal. In 1903, when Rockwell was nine, his paternal grandmother, Phebe Rockwell, died. To ensure that his grandfather would not be alone, the Rockwell family moved from their 103rd Street apartment in New York to St. Nicholas Avenue and 152nd Street, where John Rockwell resided. They remained together even after a 1907 move to Mamaroneck, New York—until 1911, when Rockwell’s mother, burdened by the hardship of caring for her father-in-law, prompted a move to a New Rochelle boarding house. Though Rockwell’s grandfather may not specifically appear as a model in his many pictures of elderly men, the tender grandfather-grandchild relationship is abundant in his work.

Friends and family are prominent in such work as his 1948 Christmas Homecoming, a joyous scene that captures the entire Rockwell clan in a moment of reverie. Youngest son Peter (with eyeglasses) looks on from the left corner; middle son Tom, in a plaid shirt, is all smiles; and wife Mary heartily hugs the couple’s oldest son, Jarvis, who has just arrived home from art school. The artist himself, seen with his signature pipe, looks on with pride, as do fellow artists Grandma Moses and Post illustrator, Mead Schaeffer and his family, who lived within close proximity during his Arlington, Vermont years.

Rockwell’s 1960 Triple Self-Portrait, a hallmark of the exhibition, considers the artist’s identity at a time when the term “identity crisis”—coined by Rockwell’s own therapist, Erik Erikson―entered the lexicon of the day. In this work, Rockwell acknowledges his role as an illustrator while affirming his debt to fine artists. Though distained by the midcentury art world, Rockwell was revered by his illustration peers and remained in the public eye for half a century. Humor and humility were essential aspects of his character, so when asked to do a self-portrait announcing the first of eight excerpts from My Adventures as an Illustrator, his autobiography, he created a self-deprecating Post cover offering a lighthearted look at both the inner and outer man.

Many Rockwell favorites will be on view, including No Swimming (1921), The Runaway (1958), and other iconic paintings and drawings, as well as rarely-seen early works, candid photographs, personal affects and correspondence, and personal date book diaries. We look forward to sharing this biographical exhibition with you―it also highlights the exciting re-release of Rockwell’s autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, first published in 1960 and re-released by Abbeville Press.

Major sponsors: Audrey and Ralph Friedner and TD Bank