By Roger Frost
I[:13:T] Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 - November 8, 1978) was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine for more than four decades. Rockwell's style provided and insight into American life with unusual style and insight.
Rockwell left high school to attend classes at the National Academy of Design and later studied under Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman at the Art Students League in New York. His early illustrations were done for St. Nicholas magazine and other juvenille publications. He sold his first cover painting to the Post in 1916 and ended up doing over 300 more. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson sat for him for portraits, and he painted other world figures, including Nassar of Egypt and Nehru of India.
Rockwell left high school to attend classes at the National Academy of Design and later studied under Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman at the Art Students League in New York. His early illustrations were done for St. Nicholas magazine and other juvenille publications. He sold his first cover painting to the Post in 1916 and ended up doing over 300 more. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson sat for him for portraits, and he painted other world figures, including Nassar of Egypt and Nehru of India.
Rockwell really wanted to work for the Saturday Evening Post and in March 1916 he visited its main office in Philadelphia. He showed the editor, George Horace Lorimer, a collection of front cover ideas. Lorimer was so impressed with the work that he purchased two cover pictures and commissioned three more. This was the start of his long-term relationship with the magazine that was to last over 45 years.
Born in New York in 1894, Rockwell had early hopes of becoming an artist. As a young man he left high school to attend art school. A diligent student at the Art Student's League in New York, he graduated to find immediate work as an illustrator for BOY'S LIFE magazine. By 1916 Rockwell had created his first of many SATURDAY EVENING POST covers. He would continue to create memorable covers for them for nearly fifty years - making three hundred and seventeen in all.
Rockwell did not shoot his pictures, but employed professional photographers, including Gene Pelham, Bill Scovill, Louis J. Lamone and others who remain unidentified. But Rockwell did orchestrate every other aspect of studio sessions. He found and bought props; recruited friends, acquaintances and relatives as models; constructed sets; and conceived scenes like a Hollywood movie director. He might have missed his calling. He could have been another Frank Capra, director of the inspirational sob-fest "It's a Wonderful Life."
Many people loved his coming and going paintings. The two paintings hung above and below each other, contrasting a high-spirited family driving to somewhere, like the lake, on a hot summer day, and the horrible ride back. The second painting is the same car as the first, but going the other way, with the wrung-out dregs of the same family -- some of them slumping, sleeping or carsick, and barely visible. Norman's father, Waring Rockwell, worked in the textile industry. He was also an amateur artist and spent time with his son copying illustrations out of magazines. Waring also read
Born in New York in 1894, Rockwell had early hopes of becoming an artist. As a young man he left high school to attend art school. A diligent student at the Art Student's League in New York, he graduated to find immediate work as an illustrator for BOY'S LIFE magazine. By 1916 Rockwell had created his first of many SATURDAY EVENING POST covers. He would continue to create memorable covers for them for nearly fifty years - making three hundred and seventeen in all.
Rockwell did not shoot his pictures, but employed professional photographers, including Gene Pelham, Bill Scovill, Louis J. Lamone and others who remain unidentified. But Rockwell did orchestrate every other aspect of studio sessions. He found and bought props; recruited friends, acquaintances and relatives as models; constructed sets; and conceived scenes like a Hollywood movie director. He might have missed his calling. He could have been another Frank Capra, director of the inspirational sob-fest "It's a Wonderful Life."
Many people loved his coming and going paintings. The two paintings hung above and below each other, contrasting a high-spirited family driving to somewhere, like the lake, on a hot summer day, and the horrible ride back. The second painting is the same car as the first, but going the other way, with the wrung-out dregs of the same family -- some of them slumping, sleeping or carsick, and barely visible. Norman's father, Waring Rockwell, worked in the textile industry. He was also an amateur artist and spent time with his son copying illustrations out of magazines. Waring also read
Rockwell did not shoot his pictures, but employed professional photographers, including Gene Pelham, Bill Scovill, Louis J. Lamone and others who remain unidentified. But Rockwell did orchestrate every other aspect of studio sessions. He found and bought props; recruited friends, acquaintances and relatives as models; constructed sets; and conceived scenes like a Hollywood movie director. He might have missed his calling. He could have been another Frank Capra, director of the inspirational sob-fest "It's a Wonderful Life."
Many people loved his coming and going paintings. The two paintings hung above and below each other, contrasting a high-spirited family driving to somewhere, like the lake, on a hot summer day, and the horrible ride back. The second painting is the same car as the first, but going the other way, with the wrung-out dregs of the same family -- some of them slumping, sleeping or carsick, and barely visible. Norman's father, Waring Rockwell, worked in the textile industry. He was also an amateur artist and spent time with his son copying illustrations out of magazines. Waring also read to his family the novels of Charles Dickens. While he read, Norman drew the characters from the novels.
About the Author:
Many people loved his coming and going paintings. The two paintings hung above and below each other, contrasting a high-spirited family driving to somewhere, like the lake, on a hot summer day, and the horrible ride back. The second painting is the same car as the first, but going the other way, with the wrung-out dregs of the same family -- some of them slumping, sleeping or carsick, and barely visible. Norman's father, Waring Rockwell, worked in the textile industry. He was also an amateur artist and spent time with his son copying illustrations out of magazines. Waring also read to his family the novels of Charles Dickens. While he read, Norman drew the characters from the novels.
About the Author:
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