Norman Rockwell

Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator whose work resonated widely in the United States by capturing aspects of the nation's culture. He is best known for the covers he created for *The Saturday Evening Post* over roughly fifty years, depicting everyday life. His most recognized pieces include the Willie Gillis series, *Rosie the Riveter*, the *Four Freedoms* series, *Saying Grace*, and *The Problem We All Live With*. Rockwell also had a long association with the Boy Scouts of America, lasting 64 years, during which he made covers for their magazine *Boys' Life* (now *Scout Life*), calendars, and other artwork. These pieces, such as *The Scoutmaster*, *A Scout Is Reverent*, and *A Guiding Hand*, often illustrate the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

Rockwell was highly productive, creating over 4,000 original works in his lifetime, with most surviving pieces held in public collections. He illustrated more than 40 books, including *Tom Sawyer* and *Huckleberry Finn*, and painted portraits of U.S. presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as foreign leaders like Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. His portrait subjects also included Judy Garland, and one of his final portraits was of Colonel Sanders in 1973. His annual Boy Scouts calendar contributions from 1925 to 1976 were somewhat eclipsed by his popular "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow, produced for 17 years starting in 1947 and reproduced in various forms since 1964. He created advertising art for companies such as Coca-Cola, Jell-O, General Motors, and Scott Tissue, and his other illustration work included booklets, catalogs, posters (especially for movies), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals like *Yankee Doodle Dandy* and *God Bless the Hills* (completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey).

During his lifetime, serious art critics dismissed Rockwell’s work. Many of his pieces, particularly the *Saturday Evening Post* covers, are seen by modern critics as overly sweet, often presenting an idealized or sentimental view of American life. This has led to the term "Rockwellesque" being used in a deprecatory way. Consequently, some contemporary artists do not consider him a "serious painter," viewing his work as bourgeois and kitsch. He is sometimes called an "illustrator" rather than an artist, a label he did not mind, as he referred to himself that way.

In his later years, Rockwell gained more attention as a painter after choosing more serious themes, such as a series on racism for *Look* magazine. *The Problem We All Live With*, a 1964 painting addressing school racial integration, shows Ruby Bridges walking to school flanked by white federal marshals past a wall covered in racist graffiti. This painting was displayed in the White House when Bridges met President Barack Obama in 2011.

**Life**

**Early years**

Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in Harlem, New York City, to Jarvis Waring Rockwell and Anne Mary "Nancy" (née Hill) Rockwell, and lived at 789 St. Nicholas Avenue. His father was Presbyterian and his mother Episcopalian; two years after their engagement, he converted to the Episcopal faith. Rockwell’s earliest American ancestor was John Rockwell (1588–1662) from Somerset, England, who immigrated to colonial North America, likely in 1635 on the ship *Hopewell*, becoming one of Windsor, Connecticut’s first settlers. He had one brother, Jarvis Jr., who was a year and a half older. Jarvis Sr. managed the New York office of the Philadelphia textile firm George Wood, Sons & Company, where he worked his entire career.

At age 14, Rockwell left high school for the Chase Art School (later Parsons School of Design). He then attended the National Academy of Design and finally the Art Students League of New York, where he studied under Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent DuMond. His early work appeared in *St. Nicholas Magazine*, the Boy Scouts of America’s *Boys' Life*, and other youth publications. As a student, he had small jobs, including one as a supernumerary at the Metropolitan Opera. His first major artistic job came at 18, illustrating Carl H. Claudy’s book *Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature*.

He was then hired as a staff artist for *Boys' Life*, earning $50 per month for one completed cover and a set of story illustrations—reportedly his first paying job as an artist. At 19, Rockwell became the art editor for *Boys' Life*, published by the Boy Scouts of America. He held this role for three years, painting several covers, starting with his first published magazine cover, *Scout at Ship's Wheel*, which appeared in the September 1913 edition.

**Association with *The Saturday Evening Post***

When Norman was 21, his family moved to New Rochelle, New York. He shared a studio with cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for *The Saturday Evening Post*. With Forsythe’s help, Rockwell submitted his first successful cover painting to the *Post* in 1916, *Boy with Baby Carriage* (published May 20). He followed this with *Circus Barker and Strongman* (June 3), *Gramps at the Plate* (August 5), *Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins* (September 16), *People in a Theatre Balcony* (October 14), and *Man Playing Santa* (December 9). Within his first year, Rockwell had eight covers published by the *Post*. In total, he created 322 original covers for *The Saturday Evening Post*.