Norman Rockwell is beyond doubt the most popular painter of the United States of the 20C, not just in America but elsewhere as well. His popularity probably lies in his ability to tell a story, supported by a wealth of details for viewers to discover and his skill to capture moods and expressions. Often his painting is humorous too, the awkwardness of youth, the embarrassment of courting couples, pride in country, history and heritage, reverence, loyalty and compassion. He painted the American Dream. He also has the skills of accuracy and of observation, as the old masters did. Like the Durer, Titan and the Rubens, he is also very successful commercially. Like Michelangelo throughout all his professional career, awarded with many private and public commissions. Like the Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Holbien, he painted the rich and famous. Because of his longevity, he had painted the Boy Scout movement, the technological advances, social developments, the Civil Rights movement and wars of the 20C. Norman Rockwell was demonized by a generation of critics who not only saw him as an enemy of modern art, but of all art. He was an outside the art establishment. The most common criticism of his works is that he chose to depict only the good side of the American experience. This is not altogether true, his works on the Civil Movement, bear witness to that. At times he acted as a social campaigning artist. His used the ordinary American as his subject. He genuinely like people and painted them with benevolent affection. Today a mosaic of one of his painting (Golden Rule, 1961) is hung at the entrance to the Headquarter of the United Nations, in New York. A recognition of his dream of a peaceful world between all races. Using achievements and compare to those achievements made by the old masters, I come see why Norman Rockwell as the greatest American artist of the 20th Century. Centuries from today, his works will still be remembered while others have long been forgotten. This is part of a Powerpoint series on the American painters.

1. First created 14 Jan 2016. Version 1.0 - 28 Apr 2016. Jerry Tse. London.
Norman Rockwell
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Available free for non-commercial, Educational and personal use.
The Greatest US painter in 20C

2. Norman Rockwell is the most popular
20C painter in the US. His works
reflected the changes in American
culture in his life-time.
He is best-known for covers of The
Saturday Evening Post. He painted well
into the 70s, before his death in 1978.
Norman Rockwell
(1894-1978)
“I showed the America I know and
observed to others, who might not
have noticed.” Norman Rockwell.

3. An example of his early work on the cover of
St. Nicholas Magazine.
St Nicholas Magazine
Born on 1 Feb 1894 in New York city, with
ancestry dating back to the first European
settlers in America, in 1635. He became an
art student at 14. His early works were
produced for St Nicholas Magazine and
Scouts of America’s magazine Boys’ Life.
During WW I tried to enlist in the Navy
without success, as he was reject being
underweight

4. Commercial success
at an early age
Success came very early, at age :-
16 (1910) First commission to paint 4
Christmas cards for Mrs Arnold Constable.
17 (1911) First book illustration on ‘Tell Me
Why Stories’.
19 (1913) Art Director of Boy’s Life, the
American Scout magazine.
22 (1916) He did his first cover on Saturday
Evening Post. American most popular
magazine at the time.

5. Norman Rockwell spent three years, as an
illustrator on the Boy’s Life magazine between
1913-1916. He painted several covers of the
magazine and some 200 illustrations. This was
the beginning of his life-time association with
the Boy Scout movement of America.
Boy’s Life (1913-1916)

6. In this 1919 painting, Rockwell told the story about
William D Boyce’s visit to London in 1909. He was
help by an English scout, who help him to find a
certain business office. He was so impressed by
the scout that he met Robert Baden-Powell, who
was the founder of the Boy Scout movement.
Eventually, William D Boyce became the founder of
Boy Scouts of America.
Scout’s Movement
1926 produced his first 51 original illustrations for
the official Boy Scouts of America annual calendar..

7. A 1963 painting by Rockwell
drumming on the virtue of the global
family of the scout movement.
He was also a campaigner for other
causes, propagating ideals he
thought should be cherished.
In 1974, at the age of 80, he
announced that his 1976 Scout
calendar painting would be his last.
It was his final salute to the Boy
Scouts of America.
Scout’s Movement

8. The Saturday
Evening Post
(1916-1963)
The first Norman Rockwell
cover on The Saturday
Evening Post 20 May 1916.
Rockwell’s family moved to New
Rochelle, New York at 21 and
shared a studio with cartoonist
Clyde Forsyth, who worked for
The Saturday Evening Post. He
painted his first cover on the
Post in 1916. Rockwell
success of the POST led to
covers for other magazines,
notably the Life magazine.

9. The Saturday
Evening Post
(1916-1963)
The Last Norman Rockwell cover on The
Saturday Evening Post appeared on the 14
December 1963, one week after the
assassination of President JF Kennedy.
The same portrait was first appeared on
the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on
29 Oct 1960
Rockwell created a total of 322 magazine
covers for The Saturday Evening Post,
which was the most widely read American
magazine of its time.
He spent the next ten years paintings for
the LOOK magazine, where he depicted
his interests in civil rights, poverty and
space exploration.

10. Development of wireless 1919
Rockwell had a very long professional life. He covered the development of wireless, radio broadcast,
television, pioneering flight, air travel, developing space program to man’s landing on the Moon.

11. Characterization
Rockwell did not just paint image of people
but he created characters. One of his skill
was the characterization of his subject.
In this painting ‘Man Threading a Needle”,
you can tell that age is catching up with
him. He is losing his hair and need to wear
a pair of reading glasses. From his shirt
sleeves strap, you can deduce his is
working in an office. He is also a thrifty
man, as hinted by the chair without a back
and the mending of a hole in his sock. He
also has a cat and he also has a pipe.
There are simple a wealth of details to
explore.

12. The Arrival of
Broadcasting in
1922
Few artists had painted or worked
on so many different subjects
and themes as Rockwell did, from
portraiture, book illustrations,
technological progress, social
changes, current affairs, war,
Christmas, genre and also
reached so many people as he
did.

13. Recurring Theme
Christmas
Rockwell also did a number of recurring
themes like Christmas, Thanksgiving,
embarrassments, humiliations, the growing
up youngsters, the old-fashioned patriotism
and period stories, often in humourous
situation etc.

14. The First flight across
the Atlantic 1927
Lindbergh was an American hero, who
flew across the Atlantic from New York
to Paris. Rockwell saw him as a
pioneer, like that of Christopher
Columbus and pioneers opening the
American west. They were represented
by the sailing ship and the wagon on the
poster.

15. Skill of Observation
Rockwell has a tremendous power of
observation. Often he used a camera to help
him. Note, the aging face and hands of the
flagpole painter. He used the same face in
several of his paintings for adverts. The
moustache reminds me of the 19C German
writer Nietzsche.

16. Hollywood movie
making in 1930s
Gary Cooper was the tough cowboy in the
movie. In this painting he was painted by a
makeup artist, with blushing powder and
lipstick. In the day of the black and white
movie, lipstick and powder were used to
highlight the facial features of actors and
actresses.

17. Recurring Character
Santa Claus
One of Rockwell recurring favourite
character was Santa Claus. Others are
dogs, circus people, boy scouts, the
courting couples etc..

18. Illustration of Children’s
classics in mid-1930s.
Rockwell’s style was changing too. He
experimented with modern art approach. He
even left his idealised world and painted the
dark world of a dead gangster (but the
painting has since lost). He travelled to
Europe. In 1935, he began to regain his
confidence and painted some of his finest
works. He also took on illustrations, including
the well-known children classics of Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Norman Rockwell’s first marriage with Irene
O’Connor ended in divorce in 1930. Rockwell.
lived in a number of places afterward. Later
in the year he married Mary Barslow.

19. Air travel 1938
Just 11 years after Lindbergh
trans-Atlantic flight. Rockwell
painted the arrival of commercial
flight, to allow speedy travel for
very long distance in comfort.

20. Experiment with
painting style
This cover painting showed how Norman
Rockwell experimented with an almost
cartoon style, like the woman on the
right.

21. Inspired by Michelangelo
Rockwell was inspired by the great masters. He paid his tribute to Michelangelo in his painting Rosie the
Riveter 1943, as the same time war efforts by women working in industries during WW II.

22. Freedom from Want
In 1943 Rockwell painted a series of four
paintings in 7 months, based on President
Franklin D Roosevelt’s speech on the four
freedoms, in which Roosevelt identified as
essential human rights. Later these
paintings were used to raise $132 million
of war bonds.
“He [Rockwell] has created an enduring
niche in the social fabric with Freedom
from Want, emblematic of what is now
known as the Norman Rockwell
Thanksgiving“, Wikipedia, Four
Freedoms (Norman Rockwell), April
2016.

23. Freedom of Speech
The speaker was in fact a real person (Carl
Hess), who was a blue collar worker at a
gas station in town. The painting was
inspired by someone who spoke in the
town’s meeting that everyone else
disagreed with. His right to speak was
respected. Rockwell chose this painting,
because it elevated the speaker above
from the crowd.

24. Freedom from Fear
This painting was the inspiration for the
scene in the film Empire of the Sun, when
the young boy was put to bed by his
parent.

25. Freedom of Worship
The Four Freedoms paintings were a
turning point in his career, as his works
began to be seen by a much wider public.
The printings were displayed in post
offices, schools, clubs, railroad stations
and a variety of public and semi-public
buildings. These paintings are the best
known of his works

26. “People somehow get out
of your work just about
what you put into it, and
if you are interested in
the characters that you
draw, and understand
them and love them, why,
the person who sees your
picture is bound to feel
the same way.” Norman
Rockwell.
Connecting
with People
Maybe, this is why, he
painted people full of
characters.

27. Working with drawing.
Often Rockwell started with a drawing before the painting. He explored the postures of the figures, all in great details and the
settings. Using his drawing he solved as many problems and made as many decisions as could, before he concentrated on the
colour and texture.
He did the above drawing for 1945 Thanksgiving, after WW II. He rejected and the drawing and opted for a different
approach. It is very interesting to compare the differences with the two images, their postures, their dress, their expressions
and what they were doing etc.

28. Telling story with
details
Painted in 1945 showing a young man return
home after the war. This is an example of
how Rockwell’s keen observation to details
is used to tell a story.
His name and rank on the bag
Wing showing he was a flyer
and served with distinction,
receiving the air medal twice.
Misfit clothing showing, the time he was
away, leaving as a boy and returned as a
war hero.
Books, banner, plane showing his
interests and what he did before
joining the war.
A fishing rod. The room was
left as it was before he went
to war, by his parent.

29. Rockwell often used camera to help him to record details and for exploring composition. Sometime a few dozens of photos were used for
a single painting. Here he modelled the pose for a misfit jacket.
Using Camera

30. Development of
suburbia - 1946
A morning view of the developing
suburbia, with commuters waiting
for the trains to take them into the
larger cities, in 1940s.

31. This painting put the country press and the editor at the centre of the community. The office of the country
press cannot be busier, with people come and go, reading newspaper, waiting and talking, as Rockwell
coming with his portfolio of paintings. The staff are working hard to get the next issue out. The painting is
part of a series featuring Rockwell visiting everyday places like the doctor’s office and the local school.
Press Freedom, a centre of our community - 1946

32. Story Telling
A new different format to
convey a different story of
how gossips get around.
The expressions on all the
faces provided laughter. He
did a couple of paintings in
this format.

33. The arrival of
television - 1949
In time, he painted the next major
change in people’s live on the
arrival television broadcasting.

34. One of the joy of looking at a
Rockwell’s paintings is to
examine the details. The
amount of details and
furnishing in this 1950s barber
shop was preserved accurately
for anyone who wants to find
out life in a barber shop in
America, in the 50s.
Changing 50s
with accuracy of
details

35. Accuracy of
Expression
Rockwell not only be able to paint with
accuracy of likeness. One of his hallmark is
his accuracy on people’s expressions on
their faces.
Look at the expression of the small boy’s
face as he announced his arrival in
Christmas.

36. This painting depicted the
changing social norms of
1950s. The two young men
obviously had never
‘Saying Grace’ before.
Changing 50s
The young man with his
back to the window is
Rockwell’s eldest son,
Jerry. The others were
modelled by people
Rockwell knew.
It was painted during the
Korean War and China has
a Communist government.
The major powers were
busily testing their nuclear
weapons and preparing for
the next world war. Thus
‘Saying Grace’ seems to
be appropriate. As it
encapsulates, the anxiety
for a peaceful world.

37. Father & son waiting for a
coming train sitting on a farm
truck. The ticket protruding
from the son’s pocket. Son’s
books are stacked on a new
suitcase bearing “State U”
pennant, with matching and
socks. The young man
focusing on the horizon
eagerly waiting for the train.
Changing
family in the
50s
In contrast, the father is
apprehensive to let go. A red
flag and lantern ready to
wave down the train.
Although their eyes never
meet the family bond is
strong. The dog seems to
understand that too. The
home ties are about to be
broken.

38. Family Reunion
In contrast this is an earlier
painting in 1948, showing the
home coming of his son Jerry after
military service. Every person in
the painting is a real person, either
family members, neighbours or
friends.
The painting is interestingly
arranged with the face of the main
character hidden from us (like his
Triple Self-Portrait). Note the
accurately capture welcoming
home expression on his son
Tommy’s face, standing next to
mum and all the smiling eyes in
the painting.

39. Family Reunion – The smiling eyes.
Enlarged details of the previous painting, The Family Reunion.

40. Rockwell’s travel
Norman Rockwell travelled widely. He
travelled to Africa, South America, Asia and
Europe. He travelled 6 times to Europe and
even stayed in Europe for several months.
1953 he moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

41. Global challenge
of the 1960s
In the early 50s, inspired by the
United Nation’s humanitarian
mission, the origin concept of the
painting included 65 people, waiting
‘to live in a world without fear.’
Rockwell abandoned it because ‘it
seemed empty and pretentious’.
In the early 60s, he revived the
concept again, this time not only
included different races, ethnicity and
different religions, with an inscription,
which strike a chord with Rockwell’s
own philosophy. .

42. The hope of the People of the World, 1953.
“Rockwell was a compassionate and liberal man, and this inscription reflected his philosophy.
Having travelled all his life and been welcomed wherever he went, Rockwell felt like a citizen of the
world, and his politics reflected that value system” from Norman Rockwell museum website.
This is the original version in 1953. The people of the world were in hope of peace, anxiously waiting for a
world without fear, while the Cold War ambassadors were debating at the front. This drawing is said to be
the embodiment of Rockwell‘s values.

43. Skill of Accuracy
Rockwell had the skill and accuracy of a
portraitist. He painted American
presidents, foreign leaders and
dignitaries, actors & actresses, the rich &
the famous, together with the ordinary
folks. He could have been a successful
professional portraitists, like many of the
great painters in history, like. Titan, Frans
Hals or John Singer Sargent, his fellow
American.
Apart from Nehru. He was commissioned
to paint the portraits for Presidents
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and
Nixon as well as Gamal Abdel Nasser of
Egypt.

44. Norman Rockwell felt particularly strongly over civil rights. This painting shows a six years old Ruby
Bridges, attending an all-white school in New Orleans escorted by four deputy US marshals, with the word
‘Nigger’ and tomato on the wall behind.

45. The Gemini space program - 1965

46. On Civil Rights
The painting depicted the brutal murder of
the Mississippi civil rights workers, killed by
the Ku Klux Klan. The three civil rights
workers in their twenties, working on voter
registration and education with local
churches.
Rockwell has often criticized for idealized
American life by depicting wholesome,
healthy and happy sentiments, by his
critics. You can say the same to many of
the of the great painters too. Some
painted just portraits, others the religious
iconography, just landscapes or still life.
An artist’s work does not have to be
balanced. Artists are not sociologists,
historian, politician or academics.

47. The Moon Landing - 1967
The painting appeared on the LOOK magazine. Rockwell
even visited Huston to meet with NASA officials. Part of
the painting was painted by Pierre Mion, an experienced
space artist, who also helped Rockwell worked on the
painting’s colour. It was the only two known
collaborations between Rockwell and another artist. Note
the command module hanging in the sky.
It had been a long time since Rockwell painted the
Pioneer, recording the first flight across the Atlantic, by
Lindbergh.

48. Peace Crop
In 1966, Rockwell took up the Peace Corp project for Look Magazine. He even travelled to Ethiopia, India
and Colombia to learn about the work of the Peace Corp.

49. Blood Brothers
The painting was inspired by Manet’s ‘The Dead Matador’. Above is the draft version showing a black and
white persons lying in a pool of intermingled blood after a race riot, on the assassination of Dr Martin
Luther King. Look magazine suggested to change the painting into a scene in Vietnam with two dead
marines. Rockwell painted the new version with the marines’ helmets cast beside them on the ground and
called the painting Blood Brother. However, Look magazine decided not to publish the painting. The where
about the final version of the painting is now unknown.

50. Norman Rockwell’s paintings have documented the history of the United States for some 70 years, from
beginning of commercial radio to television, from beginning of air flight to the landings on the Moon, from
the Boy scout to Peace Corp etc.
Timeline of his paintings

51. Rockwell was acknowledged by two of the most influential movie directors of the late 20C, Steven
Spielberg and George Lucas. Both of them are collectors of his paintings. They praised his story telling
ability. A few of movies scenes were inspired by his paintings, amongst them were Empire of the Sun
(Spielberg); Forrest Gump (Rockwell’s Girl with Black Eye), see Wikipedia.
His Admirers

52. Humour is the key
Rockwell made several paintings with
reference to the practice of both
creating and appreciating art. The
Art Critic depicted his son Jarvis as a
budding artist examining a painting
by Rubens on his wife, watched by
her and by a group of Dutch
cavaliers, blurring reality and fantasy.

53. There is no ‘ism’ or ‘movement’ in
Rockwell’s paintings. There is no
intellectualising of art. He is just a very
competent artist wanting to tell his own
story as he see it, with his best skills and
not unlike other successful old masters.
Facing the challenge
In 1962, Rockwell had worked in the POST
for 46 years. Business in the POST was
no longer as it used to be. It had to
compete with radio and television for
advertising revenue. Some advertisers
criticized Rockwell was too old fashion and
the POST need a fresh start. The well
dressed man in the painting was also
Rockwell, confronting, what looked like a
painting by Jackson Pollock, the challenge
of a new art movement.

54. Inspired by Vermeer
"I call myself an illustrator but I am
not an illustrator. Instead, I paint
storytelling pictures which are quite
popular but unfashionable.“
"No man with a conscience can just
bat out illustrations. He's got to put
all of his talent, all of his feeling into
them. If illustration is not considered
art, then that is something that we
have brought upon ourselves by not
considering ourselves artists. I believe
that we should say, "I am not just an
illustrator, I am an artist." - Norman
Rockwell
There was so much in common
between Rockwell’s paintings and the
17C genre paintings during the Dutch
Golden Age. It evitable that he would
do a painting with Vermeer settings.
When Rockwell visited Delft in the
Netherland, he even tried to gain entry
into the house with view to one of
Vermeer’s painting.

55. In the foot step
of Jan Steen
Rockwell’s approach to paintings are
basically the same as the Genre
paintings of the Dutch 17C. It is
about lives of the ordinary people
doing ordinary things and at time
making fools of themselves, with a
bit of humour and satire, in particular
like those of Jan Steen, the 17C
Dutch painters.
His painting on magazine covers,
like those engravings of Albert
Durer, are aim at gain mass
exposure and acceptance of his art
and also for commercial successes.

56. In the foot step of
Durer and Holbein.
Like Holbein the younger and Durer, Rockwell
started their professional career as illustrators for
books. Holbein started life illustrated books by
the Dutch humanist Erasmus. In the case of
Durer, he regularly published and promoted
engravings of his own paintings to be sold to the
general public. All of them were excellent
portraitists.
Rockwell painted so many, so often and for so
long that his paintings tracked changing visions
of the American Dream, through world wars, the
economic depression, civil strive, the
technological developments, to the rise the rise
of global institutions like the United Nations.

57. The Triple
Portrait
A very unusual self-portrait, with the realistic image of the artist seen in the mirror, while an idealised image was presented on
the canvas, without the glasses and no grey hair. On the corner of the canvas are the self-portraits of other well-known artists,
including Durer and Van Gogh, perhaps seeing himself as a continuation of a tradition. On the right hand of the canvas are his
sketches from different angles.

58. It is a very unusual self-portrait pose with the painter’s back facing the viewer. I can only think of one other
example of this by Vermeer in his The Art of Painting in 1665.

59. All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective
owners. Available free for non-commercial and personal
use.
The End
Music – La Paloma by Billy Vaughn & his
orchestra.
Telling stories

60. The American Painters