Norman Rockwell (1894–1978)

Norman Rockwell is famed for his illustrative paintings that capture everyday American life in the twentieth century. Rockwell began studying art during his freshman year of high school. He quit school when he was fifteen to attend the National Academy of Design. Eventually, he enrolled in the Art Students League. Rockwell was interested in accurately capturing the minutest detail of his subjects and their settings. This technique allowed him to tell their stories and reveal their personalities via their facial expressions and body language.

In 1913, Rockwell was hired as contributing art director of Boy's Life magazine. However, it was not until 1916, when he began his association with the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1), that he arrived as an artist. The Saturday Evening Post was then a popular mass-market magazine. For the next forty-seven years, Rockwell was the Post's most famous and prolific cover illustrator. Additionally, he illustrated everything from Boy Scout calendars to reprints of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to advertisements for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.

After leaving the Post in 1963, Rockwell's art became more issue oriented. Among his most famous works of the period is his 1964 Look magazine cover depicting the integration of an all-white elementary school. During and after his lifetime, Rockwell was the subject of controversy in relation to the very nature and meaning of art. To some, Rockwell is one of America's greatest artists. Others view him as an overly sentimental illustrator whose concerns were strictly commercial and who depicted a narrow and stereotypical segment of society.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information

Durrett, Deanne. Norman Rockwell. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997.

Gherman, Beverly. Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000.

Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People.http://www.rockwelltour.org/frameset.html (accessed January 16, 2002).

Rockwell, Norman. My Adventures as an Illustrator, by Norman Rockwell, as told to Thomas Rockwell. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960.