biography of Norman Perceval ROCKWELL (1894-1978)

Birth place: NYC

Death place: Stockbridge, MA

Addresses: New Rochelle, NY; Arlington, VT; Stockbridge, MA, since 1950s

Profession: Illustrator, muralist

Studied: Chase Sch. Art c.1908; NAD, c.1909; ASL, also with George Bridgeman & Thomas Fogarty; Univ. Vermont (D.F.A., 1949); Middlebury College (H.H.D., 1954); Univ. Mass. (D.F.A., 1961)

Member: Soc. Illustrators; Salmagundi Cl.; Artists' Guild of the Authors' League of America

Work: MMA; Delaware Art Mus., Wilmington; Soc. of Illus., NYC: Norman Rockwell Mus.

Comments: Frequently acclaimed as America"s greatest illustrator capturing the heart of America's family values, he created 322 covers for Sat. Eve. Post from 1916-63. His work also appeared in Brown & Bigelow calendars from 1924-76 as well as every major magazine. His illus. for Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn became classics. During World War I, while serving in the Navy, he painted official portraits. During the 1950s, he executed murals related to the Four Freedoms for the Nassau Tavern in Princeton, NJ. In 1973 he established a trust to preserve his artistic legacy, adding his studio and its contents to the trust later on. This is now the core of the permanent collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge,MA. Author: Norman Rockwell, Illustrator (1946); The Norman Rockwell Album (1961); Autobiography: My Adventures as an Illustrator(1959).

Sources: WW73; WW47; 300 Years of American Art, vol. 2: 862; P&H Samuels, 404; add'l info. courtesy of Linda Pero, Norman Rockwell Museum.