Feb 13 2009
Norman Rockwell – an American legend (1894 to 1978)
Anyone who was born in the early nineteen hundreds and up until the nineteen sixties are very familiar with the works of Norman Rockwell. He spent more than 47 years at the now extinct or, relatively extinct Saturday Evening Post. During those years his pictures were seen by literally millions of Americans and eventually around the world.
He captured in his paintings the true Americana of those eras. He had such a creative ability to be able to capture feelings and emotions to which all Americans could relate. His prodigious effort produced over 300 covers for the Saturday evening post. These covers became his greatest legacy and for which he is well known.
In a many ways his paintings were the expression of the hope during the very desperate times in the late nineteen thirties and then nineteen forties in America. In addition, during World War II his great series on the four freedoms accompanied the articles that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post that described the four freedoms outlined by President Franklin Delano (FDR) Roosevelt.
Following his 47 years with the Saturday evening post he then went on to an equally illustrious career with “Look” magazine. Rockwell along with his children have produced several books and I highly recommend that you look at his official site for a very pleasant artistic encounter as well as a more detailed look at his life. (My bookshelf has a few of his books and paintings.) http://www.normanrockwell.com/
