The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge
Stockbridge, MA
413-298-4100
322 Norman Rockwell Post Covers
September 2, 2000 - May 28, 2001
Back by popular demand, this archival exhibit shows all 322 covers
Norman Rockwell illustrated for the
Saturday Evening Post. Featured more than any other cover artist,
Rockwell's covers chronicled everyday life as well as the impact of social
and political events. "In those days the cover of the Post was the
greatest show window in America far an illustrator," Norman Rockwell
wrote. "If you did a cover for the Post, you had arrived." (left:
The Runaway, © 1958 Curtis Publishing Company)
From his first cover at the age of 22, to his last in 1963,
Norman Rockwell's work for the Saturday Evening Post 
charmed
and delighted audiences for six decades. Rockwell became the leading cover
artist for the Post, and it is his name that most often comes to
mind when the Post is mentioned. Hundreds of thousands of magazines
were added to the print run to handle the increased demand when a Rockwell
image was to appear on the cover. It is a measure of the esteem in which
Rockwell was held that his portrait of John F. Kennedy, the only one of
Rockwell's covers to be printed twice, was chosen as the memorial cover.
(right: Football Hero, © 1938 Curtis Publishing Company)
The
Saturday Evening Post was the most popular magazine in the early
part of the 20th century. Norman Rockwell's association with the Post
began in 1916 and ended in 1963 with the dedicatory cover image of JFK
after the assassination. The collaboration that lasted for 47 years yielded
322 covers, and numerous illustrations for stories and essays published
inside the magazine. (left: News and Snacks, © 1925 Curtis
Publishing Company)
Many of Rockwell's most famous images were done as covers for the Post, including Girl at Mirror, The Marriage License, The Runaway and No Swimming. Visitors to the Norman Rockwell Museum have the extraordinary experience of viewing the original oil-on-canvas paintings of some his rarely-seen works. The Norman Rockwell Museum maintains and exhibits the largest collection of original Rockwell art in the world.
The
Post cover exhibition, curated by the Norman Rockwell Museum, has
previously toured to New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Ohio; the Mark
Twain Museum in Hannibal, Missouri; the Gilcrease
Museum in Tulsa, OK; as well as appearing in Paris, France. This
exhibition of cover tear-sheets entwines Rockwell's art with the concerns
and occurrences of their times, chronicling a large part of the first half
of the 20th century. The Post illustrations reflected both the triumphs
and shortcomings of twentieth-century America, accompanied by contributions
from some of this country's most prestigious authors. (left: Triple
Self-Portrait, © 1960 Curtis Publishing Company)
The 322 Post Covers exhibition has received wide acclaim for its part in the museum's national touring show, Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, currently at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A blockbuster exhibition by all reports, Pictures for the American People will open at the Norman Rockwell Museum on June 9, 2001, after traveling to the San Diego Museum of Art (October 28 - December 31, 2000) and the Phoenix Art Museum (January 27 - May 6 , 2001). Pictures will leave Stockbridge to open in New York City at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (November 16, 2001 - March 3, 2002).
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