Limited Series Plate from the Norman Rockwell Collection
8.5" Diameter. Excellent Condition.
The artwork was used as inspiration for The White Party 2002 invitation.
Only a few left
Artist's Profile: Norman Rockwell (2/3/1894 – 11/8/1978)
Norman Rockwell was born in New York City in 1894. He attended the New York School of Art at the age of 14 and he had already earned a commission for four Christmas card oil paintings by the age of 16. He also studied at the National Academy of Design and at the Art Students League, where he was taught by Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman.
Rockwell's first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age 18 with his first book illustration for C.H. Claudy's "Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature". During his lifetime he illustrated over 40 more books including the ever-popular "Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn".
Early in his career, Rockwell produced illustrations for the "Nicholas Magazine", the Boy Scouts of America publication "Boys' Life", and other juvenile publications. By the age of 19, he was working as an art director for "Boy's Life".
Rockwell submitted his first successful cover painting to the "Post" at the age of 22. "Boy with Baby Carriage" was published on May 20, 1916 and was followed by 321 more covers over the next 47 years. Rockwell's success on the cover of the "Post" led to covers for over 80 other magazines, most notably "The Literary Digest", "The Country Gentleman", "Leslie's", "Judge", "Peoples Popular Monthly" and "Life" magazine.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the "Four Freedoms". The series was inspired by a speech made by Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 16, 1941. In his speech, he had declared that there were four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were first published by "The Saturday Evening Post" in four consecutive issues. The pictures became extremely popular and reprints of the covers were sold in vast quantities.
The U.S. Treasury Department promoted war bonds by exhibiting the original "Four Freedoms" paintings in 16 cities. The paintings were seen by 1,222,000 people who purchased over $133,000,000 in war bonds. Later, posters were made from the paintings and distributed as an incentive for war bond purchases. No paintings by any other American artist were ever published on such a global scale. One version of his "Freedom of Speech" painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the preliminary study for "Freedom of Speech" set an auction record at $407,000.
Rockwell and his son, Thomas, wrote his autobiography, "My Adventures as an Illustrator", in 1960. The "Post" printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous "Triple Self-Portrait" on the cover. His last painting for the "Post" was published in 1963. He spent the next 10 years painting for "Look" magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
Rockwell was commissioned to paint portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as other world figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1977 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country", the United States of America's highest civilian honor. Rockwell was also a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America.
During his long career, Rockwell produced illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey). He also made annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars (1925 – 1976). He painted the very popular "Four Seasons" Calendar illustrations for Brown & Bigelow, which continues to be reproduced in various styles and sizes.
Norman Rockwell painted over 2000 original works in his lifetime, but many were destroyed by fire. He is most famous for his "Saturday Evening Post" cover illustrations. For four decades his illustrations mirrored life in the early 20th century, celebrating ordinary Americans at work and at play. He painted the America he knew and considered himself a storyteller.
Norman Rockwell died at the age of 84.
The Rockwell Museum has custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings. Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge studio was also moved to the site and is open to the public between May and October every year. The studio and its contents include the artist's materials and equipment; his personal art library of approximately 500 volumes; furnishings; decorative objects; ethnographic objects collected on his travels; mementos; hundreds of prints; and artwork sent by fans and admirers. You can visit the Norman Rockwell Museum at 9 Glendale Road, Route 183, Stockbridge, Massachusetts.