Club hears history of artist Norman Rockwell
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Joyce Haines presented her paper on notable New Yorker, Norman Rockwell, at a recent meeting of the Fredonia Shakespeare Club, hosted by Ms. Lucille Richardson.
Although Norman Perceval Rockwell was born in New York City in 1884, making him a Notable New Yorker, he moved to Vermont and later to Stockbridge, Mass., where he delighted in a calm, idyllic location to work on his paintings and illustrations.
Rockwell loved to tell stories in pictures. He always considered the concept, clothes, props, postures, and profiles of his subject, then photographed them, made sketches, and produced the illustration. He used local people for his models. Haines showed an original cover from The Saturday Evening Post, published the month and year she was born, which was the cover of her baby book written by her mother.
Rockwell created his first Christmas cards at the age of 16 and in 1916 at the age of 22 he became the art director for Boys Life. He also produced his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post and continued a relationship with them for 47 years, illustrating over 321 covers. He believed contracts were limiting and enjoyed his freedom to continue illustrating for advertisers, children's literature, and other magazines. He illustrated several movie stars for covers as well as the heads of Presidents.
In 1941 wartime, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech about the four freedoms of Americans to inspire everyone. Rockwell wanted to do something for the war effort, so he did paintings representing each of the four freedoms in 1943: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. Signed prints were distributed in schools and libraries, and those raised over $130 billion in bonds at rallies for the war effort.
In the 1960s, Rockwell turned to something more serious, working on the painting Do unto Others as You Would Have Them Do unto You. Members viewed a short video narrated by Rockwell himself detailing the making of this painting.
In 1963, he left the Post, and began making covers for Look magazine, where he had more freedom without constraints. It was a time of civil rights and desegregation. He expressed his thoughts with his painting of The Problem We All Live With, a depiction of Ruby Bridges being accompanied by guards on her first day of attending a white school.
Rockwell, a heavy smoker, died on Nov. 8, 1978, of emphysema at the age of 84 in his Stockbridge home.
A pristine museum located on the grounds of a well-groomed 36-acre campus just outside the village of Stockbridge houses his legacy of an archive of reference photographs, business and fan correspondence, props, costumes, and other materials that reflect his personal and professional life. It is just of the border from New York State off the I-90 and is well worth a visit.
Following the paper presentation, members enjoyed refreshments.