Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge Five-Year Highlights- 1993-1998

- 1 T he Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge Five-Year Highlights- 1993-1998

IT IS F1VE YEARS SINCE TIlE NEW NORMAN ROCKWELL Museum opened. Here are photographs from our scrapbooks of highlights in the museum galleries and scenes from our magnificent 36-acre landscape. Inside the Galleries

Museum guide Roberta Wolf conducts a crowded and multi-generational tour in the Fitzpatrick gallery.

The Norman Rockwell Museum Board of Trustees David L. Klausmeyer President Bobbie Crosby First Vice-President Steven Spielberg Second Vice-President This photograph Perri Petricca Treasurer of an amused trio Roselle Kline Chartock Clerk looking at The Runaway proves William M. Bulger Timothy R. McLevish James A. Cunningham Thomas Patti that although Daniel DuBois Lincoln Russell guided tours are Joan SerVaas Durham Joseph M. Salvadore interesting and Michelle Gillett Mark Selkowitz informative, Neil and Jane Golub Brian]. Quinn Elaine S. Gunn Aso Tavitian visitors can enjoy James W.lreland Laughran S.Vaber a Rockwell Harvey Chet Krentzrnan Lee Williams painting on their Robert F. McDermott Jamie Williamson own. Trustees Emeriti Lila Wilde Serle Jane P. Fitzpatrick John M. Deely, Jr. Norma G. Ogden Henry H. Williams,Jr.

Laurie Norton Moffatt, Director

The Nonnan Rockwell Museum is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency that supports public programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences.

IiMAssACHUSITfS UJLI UlUll.UJUI'K,IL The Portfolio

Volume 15, Number 2, Summer 1998 Cris Raymond, Editor Director Laurie Norton Moffatt stands Bea Snyder, Project Manager with Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence The Portfolio is published four times a year by Cutler of the American Illustrators The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, Inc., Gallery, New York City, at the and is sent free to all members. November, 1995 opening of the exhibition Copyright © 1998 by The Maxfield Parrish: A Retrospective. Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge. All rights reserved. One sporting boy studies Norman Cover: Sailing Out of Gloucester Harbor, Rockwell's Four Sporting Boys: Football, 1880, Winslow Homer, watercolor on Basketball, Baseball, and Golf paper. Courtesy of the Canajoharie . Library and Art Gallery. Right, an unveiling moment at the Rockwell Museum occurred in the fa ll of 1994 when Peter Rockwell removed the wraps from his eight-foot, 51/2 ton limestone sculpture, Grendel's Folly. Out on the Landscape

"Please touch" is the idea behind this inviting bronze sculpture Three Tumblers by Peter Rockwell. For this scene, the piece could be renamed the Six Tumblers.

Grand Opening, June 13, 1993 is a day to remember. At the opening ceremonies, Norman Rockwell's three sons-Peter, Tom, and Jarvis-and then Board President Lila Berle with Althea Rockwell, Norman's great granddaughter, plant a commemorative tree on the landscape. Far right, in this 1994 photograph, Joan SerVass Durham, President of Curtis Archives, and Lila Berle, then Board President of the Norman Rockwell Museum, proudly display the Rockwell stamp featuring Triple-Self Portrait.

Summer visitors relax on the hillside near Norman Rockwell's studio. Briggs & Stratton, makers of engines for lawn equipment, named the Norman Rockwell Museum to their 1998 list of Ten Best Lawns in America. 4 The Art ofNorman Rockwell Visits Japan Laurie Norton Moffatt, Director

HE NORMAN ROCKWELL were first examined by conserva Museum realized its tors from Williamstown Art T most ambitious exhibi Conservation Center and a tion to date when, after more determination was made as to than ten years of planning, we whether they were able to sent Highlights from the Collection withstand the risks of travel. A bill-board size poster of Merry Christmas Grandma advertising tbe of the Norman Rockwell Museum Thus, all the pieces were as exhibition was prominently displayed to Japan in December of1997. sessed bearing in mind the in Tokyo on tbe side of tbe Isetan Our Board of Trustees took journey to and from Japan and Company, Limited building. great pleasure to present to our the changes of venue within that Japanese friends an important country. Before packing in exhibition from the museum's Stockbridge and at every collection that reflected location, condition reports were Rockwell's observation of done on each painting and America. It was the first time drawing. that so many of the museum's The artwork, accompanied by most treasured works had our museum courIers, was traveled from their home in crated and transported by Stockbridge. We are especially F ortress/Fine Arts Express and appreciative of Masahiko Japan Airlines, an exhibition Shibata, President of Brain sponsor. The museum couriers Trust, Inc., the sponsor of the accompanied every move exhibition, for his long-time between the museum sites in friendship and support of the Japan. museum and his efforts to bring The opening evening in this collection to Japan. Tokyo was a gala reception Many details were involved in attended by such notables as organizing an exhibition of this Peter J. Kovach, Counselor for magnitude. In addition to Cultural Affairs at the Embassy selecting the paintings and of the United States; Masahiko writing the catalogue, there was Shibata, President of Brain the physical packing and ship Trust, Inc.; Mr. Yasuo ping of the 63 paintings, 21 Hatakeyama, Managing Direc drawings, tear sheets, and tor of Isetan Company Limited, posters of the Four Freedoms. Tokyo; and Takeshi Some of Rockwell's best-known Matsumoto, Director of the works-Marriage License, The Chihiro Iwasaki Museum of Runaway, Girl at the Mirror and Picture Books. Joining me as Deadline-were included in the representatives from the exhibition. Norman Rockwell Museum Part of our mandate as a were Board President David museum is to preserve and Klausmeyer and our museum protect the collection entrusted couriers Linda Szekely, Assistant to us. As in the case of any loan Curator, and Josephine request, the individual works . Nieuwenhuis, Museum Project 5

Registrar. In Tokyo, the exhibi Rockwell and America. partmental effort here at the tion was attended by over 1,500 During the months that the museum. While the major work people on the first day. exhibition was in Japan, Decem came from our curatorial The Japanese people have a ber 3rd to May 17th, it traveled department, the promotion, great interest in the work of to six cities-Tokyo, Nagoya, public relations, and marketing Norman Rockwell. Many of the Chiba, Niigata, Osaka and departments were closely foreign visitors to Stockbridge Hiroshima. More than 100,000 involved in promoting the are from Japan. The universality people viewed the exhibition exhibition. Posters in the of the themes depicted in during the tour. The length of Japanese subways, shopping Rockwell's paintings-family, the venues ranged from eighteen bags, and many other articles love, humor-cross all cultures days in Niigata to one month in promoted the exhibition. One of and social strata. Rockwell's eye Chiba. In each city, the exhibi the most beautiful exhibition for accuracy of detail and tion was accompanied by related items is the catalogue, carefully balanced compositions representatives from Brain which contains some of the are qualities that also are re Trust, Inc., and our own well finest Norman Rockwell repro flected in Japanese art. The traveled museum team who ductions ever produced. It is proudly displayed and sold in our museum store. Lest anyone think that our walls were empty while part of the collection was in Japan, visitors who came to Stockbridge still had many impor tant Rockwell artworks to see. In addition, changing exhibitions featuring the works of other well-known illustrators were on display. J. C. Leyendecker: A Japanese people are interested in logged in many hours crossing Retrospective was one of our America, and the image of the Pacific. In the five and a half exhibitions that drew interested An elegant America that they know is the months of the tour, it received crowds while Highlights from the salesperson displays one of the one created by Norman great coverage in the national Collection was touring in Japan. Rockwell shopping Rockwell. It is interesting to newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun. On Now that the exhibition in bags that the observe that reproductions of April 18th, I presented opening Japan has ended, we have many Isetan Co. used for the works of Norman Rockwell remarks at the final venue, the new and exciting exhibits in the purchases. Above right, prior have long been on display in Hiroshima Museum of Art, works. We hope to see you here to installation, popular restaurants and at followed by a heartwarming in Stockbridge, but if you conservator airports in Japan. Quite possibly, reunion with my rotary Interna cannot travel to the Norman Kikuko Iwai the exhibition, Highlights from tional host families with whom I Rockwell Museum, stay tuned, carefully repaired the Collection of the Norman lived in 1994. for one day very soon we might the frame on Cousin Reginald Rockwell Museum, will generate The work involved in planning just be coming to your neigh Spells Peloponnesus. even more interest in both this exhibition was an interde- borhood. 6 A VISit from the Reverend Jesse Jackson

ON MARCH 12TH, JESSE JACKSON CAME TO SSEJACKSON' AFRICAN words or writing this. Had you Berkshire County to speak before a group gathered American, rose from student been here when the Reverend for the J. Leo Dowd and Catherine Mellon Dowd protester to civil rights leader, Jackson visited the museum for Lecture series held at Monument Mountain High l from chairman of PUSH the first time, you couldn't help School in Great Barrington. (People United to Save Human but wonder what his thoughts The major theme ofJackson's talk was to honor ity) to negotiator for the release and feelings were as he stepped Great Barrington's native son WE.B. DuBois. As of 48 Cuban and Cuban-Ameri into the Mirror on America Jackson said, before Martin Luther King, Adam can prisoners in 1987. His work Gallery to view the intensely Clayton Powell and Malcolm X, there was WE.B. also has taken him from being a moving and painful images DuBois. Writer, historian, and sociologist, Dubois candidate for president to captured so vividly by N.R.-The was one of the founding fathers of the NAA CP and, becoming the head of the Problem We All Live With and in Jackson's words, the "spiritual master of Rainbow Coalition. He came to Murder in Mississippi. America's conscience." Stockbridge to praise another Reverend Jackson's demeanor The morning after the lecture, Jesse Jackson black man, W.E.E. DuBois, who seemed to change as he viewed accepted Director Laurie Norton Moffatt'S invita left a legacy to this country that these two paintings. He became tion to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum. is yet unrivaled. contemplative and humble as he Museum board member Elaine Gunn accompanied While in Berkshire County, listened to the story behind Reverend Jackson on his visit here. What follows is Jackson found the time to praise these pieces and read the her account of the memorable visit. yet another American icon, account of the three civil rights Norman Rockwell. "Jesse workers who were murdered in Jackson visits the Norman Philadelphia, Mississippi. I Rockwell Museum," I never wondered if he was remembering dreamed that I'd be saying those those particular days, those dark days when the country was in much turmoil, and the future seemed so uncertain. As we moved through the galleries, Reverend Jackson's mood lifted. When he viewed the Four Freedom images, he seemed quite impressed with Rockwell's rendering of these basic free doms, and expressed an interest in having prints of these paint ings. The Reverend Jackson complimented Norman Rockwell's contribution to the country and even compared Rockwell's legacy to that of DuBois. The Reverend Jesse Jackson with museum Upon leaving here, Jackson board member Elaine Gunn. remarked that he would like to return to the Norman Rockwell Murder in Mississippi, oil on canvas, unpublished version of a story illustration Museum someday. Anytime, for Look magazine article, June 29, 1965. Reverend Jackson! Upcoming Exhibitions

In addition to the permanent collection of Rockwell's work, the Norman Rockwell Museum is pleased to present the following exhibitions. Winslow Homer: Artist Norman Rockwell's Changes and & Illustrator Saturday Evening Post Challenges: july 3, 1998 to August 3D, 1998 Covers Rockwell in the Winslow Homer occupies a September 5, 1998 to january 24, 1999 1930s coveted place in the pantheon of American art. Best known for his This complete presentation of june 6, 1998 to oils and watercolors, Homer the 322 covers that Rockwell October 25, 1998 began his artistic career as a painted for The Saturday Evening As the country entered lithographer's apprentice. This Post from 1916 to 1963 chronicles the Depression, exhibition, which highlights everyday life in America as well as Rockwell's own life Homer's work as an illustrator, the social and political events of was changed by features rarely exhibited water the decades. remarriage, father colors and woodcut illustrations. hood and what he Exhibit sponsored by the Berkshire Eagle. Made in Massachusetts described as "artist's block." This exhibi March 13, 1999 to May 31, 1999 tion contains oil The fabric of cultural life in paintings, drawings, Massachusetts is profoundly and magazine tear enriched by the presence of the sheets from the many illustrators who live and museum collections work in the state. Made in Massa and loans from private chusetts will celebrate the work of and public collections. those artists who actively and diligently provide a link to Visual Solutions: Rockwell's profession as illustrator. Seven Illustrators and the Creative Process Rockwell Can Travel to You! November 7, 1998 to May 31, 1999 june 6, 1998 to If you and members of your com October 25, 1998 Come see the process of how munity are not able to come to illustrators do what they do so Stockbridge, consider bringing AI Hirschfeld's work for well. Visual Solutions is a someone from the Norman N ew York newspapers window into the working Rockwell Museum to your area to chronicled the lives of seven contemporary give an informal talk on the work of summer playhouse illustrators-Eric Carle, America's famous illustrator. For a scene with his Diane and Leo Dillon, fee plus travel expenses, a museum signature style Wendell Minor, Mike Deas, staff member will come to your that combined long sweep Barbara Nessim, and C. F. town with a special slide presenta © 1985 AI Hirschfeld ing lines, intricate curves and Payne. Represented are tion on Rockwell's work and life. extensive cross hatching. For the first paintings, drawings, collages and This informative talk is a wonderful time, these unique drawings will be brought computer images from children's way to bring Rockwell into your together in an intimate exhibition that explores books, editorial illustration and community. Call 413-298-4100, the work of this famous illustrator. book cover art. extension 220 to plan your program. Winslow Homer: Artist & Illustrator Wendy Lutz, Curatorial Intern

The See-Saw, INSLOWHOMER Homer's illustrations, which precocious independent spirit, watercolor on occupies a coveted span three decades, are a fasci Homer left the lithography firm paper, 1873. Courtesy of The W:place in the pantheon nating barometer of the devel once his apprenticeship ended Canajoharie of American art. A prolific artist opment of this artist and the and struck out on his own as a Library and Art of remarkable versatility, American nation. freelance magazine illustrator. Gallery Homer's work spans over half a Born in 1836, Winslow In the mid 1800s, the climate century. His oils and watercolors Homer grew up in Cambridge, for an aspiring illustrator was that hang in galleries across the Massachusetts during the days particularly hospitable. Aided by nation and the world are the when the university town was advances in technology, Ameri subject of exhaustive analysis, rural and unfettered by the city can culture found more outlets exhibition and critique. Yet of Boston. Perhaps because his for visual expression than ever Winslow Homer began his mother was an amateur artist before. The development of artistic career with a charcoal and his father was something of photography expanded the pencil, not a paintbrush. Indeed, an adventurous business specu privilege of portraiture beyond nineteenth-century Americans lator, young "Win's" interest in the very upper levels of society. first became acquainted with sketching was actively encour The lithographers Currier and Winslow Homer as a freelance aged by his parents. When rves helped decorate the walls of magazine illustrator. He created Homer was nineteen, his father American homes and fueled a more than two hundred and fifty financed an apprenticeship with fascination with scenes of magazine illustrations and the Boston lithography firm of middle-class life and leisure. At contributed to over a dozen JH. Bufford. There, the appren the same time, illustrated weekly magazines, most notably tice quickly graduated from magazines such as Harper's Harper's Weekly. Homer's sheet music design to more Weekly, Appleton's Journal and popularity as an illustrator and ambitious projects-one litho Every Saturday were introduced his long-term association with graph of the Massachusetts and became immensely popular. Harper's have been compared to Senate was a detailed compila The first magazine illustration Norman Rockwell and The tion of forty-two individual that Winslow Homer received Saturday Evening Post. Winslow portraits! Demonstrating a credit for was On the Corner of 9

Winter, Washington and Summer for months at a time, but often women "doing their bit" long Street. It appeared in the June completed the final sketch of an before the advent of Rosie the 13, 1857 issue of Ballou's Picto illustration at home in New Riveter! rial, a Boston weekly magazine. York. Not surprisingly, the war Although Winslow Homer The text accompanying the theme dominated Homer's continued his association with illustration praises "Mr. illustrations as well as his begin Harper's Weekly, the list of his Winslow Homer, a promising ning forays into oil painting magazine "patrons" grew longer young artist of this city" and sets during this period. Even so, after the war. Homer's illustra- the scene: Homer's work "The local view upon this does not include page .. . represents one of the many scenes of Apart from portraits ofstern-eyed busiest and most brilliant spots actual combat. Union officers and generals, the in all Boston.... Here we have a Apart from carriage dashing up at a rather portraits of young illustrator avoided illegal rate of speed which might stern-eyed --- endanger the lady at the cross Union officers depicting the horrors ofwar. ing, but for the gentlemanly and generals, the policeman who is stationed young illustrator generally tions now could be found on the there .... Washington Street avoided depicting the horrors of pages of Harper's Bazaar, Frank presents many of the character war, as did Norman Rockwell Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, istics of Broadway, New York. years later. He chose to depict Scribner's Magazine and Every In the human tide that pours troops beyond the battle lines Saturday. These magazines through it, there is nearly the around the campfire, playing provided Homer with not only same diversity of nature and football, or on picket duty. Also an artistic platform but also a origin and the amount of passing like Rockwell, Winslow Homer's steady income, which sustained is perhaps larger in proportion wartime illustrations demon the artist as he began to work on to the size of the city, crowding strated the effect of war upon such oil paintings as Prisoners the sidewalks full." the home front. In fact, several from the Front and The Beach at In describing Homer's first Homer illustrations show Long Branch. During this time, composition, the editors at Homer revisited many subjects Ballou's also encapsulated much of the ante-bellum years and of his early work in magazine also began to explore new illustration. Many of these artistic territory. Excursions to illustrations-skating parties, New England coasts and fishing promenades and ballroom expeditions in the Adirondack dances-are crowded with Mountains provided new people and activity. These early backdrops for Homer's illustra images reflect Homer's youth tions and foreshadowed the and inexperience, convey an watercolors and oil paintings innocence and gaiety that are that placed these settings in absent from his later work, and central focus. compound the modern viewer's Some art historians view sense of the impending war. tHorner's 1867 trip to Paris as an !" The Civil War years found r important turning point in the Homer in New York City where tf. artist's development. In an era he was beginning a long-stand when the American art world ing relationship with Harper's looked to Europe for inspira- Winslow Homer, 1867. From the Weekly. As Harper's "special Bowdoin College Museum of Art, tion, it is understandable that artist," Homer visited the front Brunswick, Maine. Gift of the Homer wished to study the and Union Army encampments Homer Family works of European masters old 10

and new. Homer's own Harper's time that I took my nose off that larly suited for wood engraving Weekly illustration, Art Students lithographic stone, I have had no since they were durable and and Copyists in the Louvre Gallery, master; and never shall have could withstand many thousands Paris seems to offer commentary any." With memories of his of printings. Sanded and pol on the subject of the exalted apprenticeship and an eye to his ished, the blocks offered a European painter. Although the future, Homer was determined paper-like surface upon which setting is the Long Gallery of do freelance work. the illustrator or woodcut the Louvre, Homer paid little Still, woodcut illustrations designer would outline the attention to the masterpieces required some collaboration. A illustration. After the planned adorning the gallery walls. His magazine's editorial and design illustration had been sketched composition centered upon the requirements could greatly onto the woodblock, the en pretty female students receiving affect an illustrated image. graver took over. First, he instruction! Whether or not Before advanced photography rubbed a mixture of ground Homer was influenced by and computer technology, brick onto the block; this "brick French realists, early Impres technological limitations had a bath" sealed the wood from sionists, or influential Japanese direct impact on illustration, moisture and gave the prelimi printmakers, his work in illustra particularly on the woodcut nary sketch additional visibility. tion had evolved dramatically medium favored by nineteenth Next, using a special set of tools from his first days at Ballou's century magazines. Obviously, and techniques, the engraver Pictorial. As Homer matured, his the illustrator was responsible carved out the white areas of a magazine compositions became for creating the image. How drawing, letting the lines, the cleaner and more focused on ever, the wood engraver had the form, and the varying tones of single characters and situations. delicate task of transferring that an image stand in sharp relief. Despite growing fame as an image onto a wooden block in Finally, the finished woodblock illustrator and the financial order that the illustration could relief was coated with ink and stability it provided, Homer be reproduced and printed over printed on paper, a process refused a permanent position at and over again. similar to that used in typeface. Harper's Weekly. As he later To create a woodcut illustra Thus laboring in obscurity, the explained, "The slavery at tion, the engravers started with a engraver always "made an Bufford's was too fresh in my block of American maple or impression" on woodcut illus recollection to let me care to Turkish boxwood. These close tration. bind myself again. From the grained surfaces were particu- In the 1870s, a particularly talented group of engravers helped Winslow Homer create his finest and arguably most popular illus trations. Homer depicted school yards, sand dunes, and farm fields, seeking out the playing grounds of Snap-the-Whip, children-a illustration for Harper's Weekly, theme that September 20, would occupy 1873. him for many Since Winslow Homer's illustrations were printed as magazine inserts, they might easily be overlooked and over whelmed by the scale and color of Homer's oil paintings. In a short autobiography for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Winslow Homer himself summed up his career in freelance illustration with a classic understatement, "the young man ... [Homer] sup ported himself by doing illustra tions for the popular journals of the day." Yet Homer the artist owes much to Homer the illustrator. His years with the lithography firm and illustrated weeklies See-Saw, years. During this period, he was watercolor in which they were provided more than his bread Gloucester, at the height of his powers of occupied with a lobster instead and butter. As an illustrator, Massachusetts, draughtsmanship and design. of the string game. illustration for Homer developed a reportorial Harper's Weekly, Moreover, Homer's reputation As Homer reached middle style that continually evolved September 12, as a painter (and his Yankee age, his life and work took a throughout his artistic life. 1874. practicality) enormously ben dramatic turn. He experimented Engravers, designers and efited his magazine illustrations. with etching, a technique similar lithographers gave Homer his In his belief that good composi to woodcut engraving, but with instruction in draughtsmanship tions should never be wasted, a metal plate instead of wood as and composition, and the years Homer translated many of his the medium. However, in this he spent under their tutelage oil and watercolor paintings into period of his life, he worked later enabled him to become the woodcut illustrations. Some almost exclusively in oil and free-spirited painter who times he would incorporate watercolor and ultimately ceased provided the world with some of elements of several paintings his magazine work altogether. In the most lasting impressions into one illustration. 1881, Homer worked for almost ever created by an American One example of the reciprocal two years in the small fishing artist. relationship between Homer's village of Cullercoats on the paintings and illustrations is See coast of northeast England. The quotes in this article and Saw, Gloucester, Massachusetts, an Turning from one of the sub further information about the image that appeared in an 1874 jects of his youth-languid illustrations of Winslow Homer issue of Harper's Weekly. At first society girls-Homer painted can be found in the follOWing glance, this illustration seems to the village women as small references: be a mirror image of a water figures, dwarfed by the harsh Philip C. Beam, Winslow Homer's color entitled The See-Saw (c elements of coastal life. Shortly MagaZine Illustrations, New York, 1873). Both the watercolor and after his return from England, Harper & Row Publishers, 1979. the illustration depict a group of Homer moved permanently to Barbara Gelman, The Wood children playing on the see-saw the coastal village of Prout's Engravings of Winslow Homer, against the background of a Neck, Maine. He felt the tidal New York, Bounty Books, 1979. Gloucester dock and bait shop. pull of the sea and left the whirl Lloyd Goodrich, The GraphiC Art of However, in the illustration the of urban life behind forever. Winslow Homer, New York, The three girls are shown seated in Homer frequently traveled to Museum of GraphiC Art, 1968. front of the see-saw playing eat's the Adirondacks and the Baha cradle. This group of girls had mas, settings that also are Exhibit sponsored by the appeared in a different 1873 depicted in his works. Berkshire Eagle 12 Exhibition in the Making, 1999- 2000 A Cultural Exploration of The Saturday Evening Post Christopher Clarke-Hazlett, PhD., Guest Curator

HEN WAS THE LAST time you had a W chance to curl up in an easy chair and relax with a copy of The Saturday Evening Post? Your next opportunity may come in November, 1999, when a new exhibition called Before TV: American Culture, Illustra tion, and The Saturday Evening Post opens at the Norman Rockwell Museum. Research and planning for the exhibition are currently underway. As guest curator, I am working with the museum staff to create an exhibit

The Saturday Evening Post --- provided Americans with a --- weekly mirror in which to see themselves. ~ (I 1: -coC> ~ that surveys the Post's extensive o ~~ ______~~~~~~ ______~u use of illustrated images to inspire, inform and influence the Girl Reading the Post, March 1,1941, cover. magazine's millions of readers. It's easy to forget that for explore the American ideal that canned soup. The exhibition much of the 20th century, the emerged from the work of its also will document the post Post came into American homes legion of illustrators-including World War II decline of illus that had no TV sets or other both well-known figures, such as trated images as a powerful similar visual distractions. The Norman Rockwell and].C. communication medium under Before TV exhibit will examine Leyendecker, and the lesser the onslaught of photographs, the American culture into which known (and sometimes anony film and, most of all, television. the Post brought its memorable mous) illustrators whose render Twentieth-century illustrated combination of vivid illustration, ings appeared in advertisements images had the power to capture fine writing and eye-catching for products ranging from emotion, to tell a story and to display advertising. It will automobile tires to soap to ' influence behavior. The Saturday 13

Evening Post's amazing success as promotion. In their heyday from magazines on the hall floor. a mass-circulation magazine the turn of the century to around When The Saturday Evening Post depended on its use of illustrated 1940, illustrated magazines such arrived, I would sit on the stair images-especially the four as the Post provided work for landing and with the north light color illustrations that became literally hundreds of illustrators coming through the door there technically and economically and commercial artists, whose was enough illumination to feasible in the mid-1920s-not work appeared on the covers and study every detail of Norman just to enhance the fine writing in story and advertising illustra Rockwell's covers. Sitting with that the magazine offered, but tions. the Post in my hands provided also to sell magazines at the The Saturday Evening Post one of my most favorite child newsstand and persuade readers claimed the largest audience of hood memories." to purchase the products adver any magazine, indeed of any tised in its pages. mass medium, in the nation. It Roots of Today's provided Americans Visual Culture with a weekly mirror Parts of the planned exhibi in which to see tion Before TV will be familiar to themselves. the Norman Rockwell Museum's visitors, many of The Post's Arrival whom have their own personal The attractiveness, stories and memories about the warmth and humor of place that the Post occupied in the Post's illustrations their home when they were helped millions of growing up. Today's rapid-fire Americans forge a image assault that comes to us personal connection via film and television can lead to the magazine. us to underestimate the power Readers experienced and influence that illustrated the excitement of images once had on the Ameri anticipating the Post's can public. To do so might even arrival; many a family cause us to dismiss the work of devoted special rituals this bygone period as the quaint to reading and sharing artistic creation of a simpler the magazine (and to moment from the past. Before arbitrating disputes TV will present the theory that over whose turn it was the image industry that occu to read it). Ellen pied the creative talents of so Baise, a guide at the many illustrators in the early Norman Rockwell 1900s was part of a larger visual

@ Museum, recalls the explosion in 20th-century .c THE YOR~SHIREMAN FtI~S AGAIN C> American culture. The roots of "i', arrival of the Post in Q. By ERIC KNIGHT <3 her household. today's image-oriented visual "I grew up in culture-now centered around N ews Kiosk in The use of images in this way Charleston, West Virginia in a photography, film, and TV the Snow, was a new phenomenon in white colonial style home. Our can be found in the work of the December 20, American cultural history. It front door had a mail slot but legion of image-smiths whose 1941, cover. marked a shift from words to with Charleston boasting a mild creative output was essential to images as the principal means by climate, we frequendy left the the success of mass-circulation which Americans communi door open. One of my most magazines. The pages of The cated, and it coincided with the pleasant memories was the Saturday Evening Post contained rise of national name-brand arrival of the postman, who one of the most comprehensive products whose sales depended came in the house and just arrays of the visual culture of heavily on advertising and dropped the mail and the this century. They remain a 14

remarkable parade of more than of the best answers or all of the deliver the desired impact. 60 years of illustration. creative inspiration that is Conversely, how can magazine This exhibit story line will needed to develop a successful images meant to be viewed from pose some interesting challenges exhibition. This is part of the a distance of 10-12 inches be by encouraging viewers to study fim and the challenge of creating placed on a gallery wall without illustration images for their exhibits, but it is also one of the fundamentally altering their social and cultural content as reasons why exhibitions often visual context? The exhibit team well as their artistry. We aim to have a long gestation period of will address these challenges by entice Norman Rockwell two to three years. A successful offering visitors the opportunity Museum visitors to follow us exhibition takes a lot of com to hold, read and turn the pages down this rather innovative path. bined time and expertise to of genuine issues of The Satur compile the sound research day Evening Post. Also, we required to present exciting intend to provide innovative ideas through meaningful ways of looking at magazine stories. It must contain enlight images. All these plans will be ening and provocative labels, examined in the course of our offer memorable public pro team meetings, and in our pre grams and allow viewers differ opening discussions with ent ways to discover the core museum visitors. meaning that is both stimulating and profound. Moment in History Early work on Before TV took A principal reason for doing place a few years ago with a the Before TVexhibition at the preliminary exhibit plan that end of the millennium is to help went through several stages of visitors place Rockwell's career discussion and review. Today in a historical context along with the project has taken a slightly the work of some of the hun different turn that reflects the dreds of other artists who were Norman Rockwell Museum's featured in the Post. We hope interest in offering its visitors a that the exhibition will illumi broader social and cultural nate further that moment in our context in which to view its cultural history when American ~ g remarkable collection of the art illustrators shaped our visual 1: CD of Norman Rockwell. An world. ·c g: important goal of this exhibit is In Norman Rockwell's Saturday u~ ______~~ ______~~~ ______~ to place not just Rockwell but Evening Post Covers, which opens Lubalin As with any exhibit, the the entire field of pre-World September 5, 1998, the museum Redesigning the curator begins with a prelimi War II American illustration in will present all 322 covers Post, September nary set of ideas and an empty the historical context of 20th created by Rockwell. This 16, 1961, cover. gallery. Every exhibition goes century American visual culture. collection shows Rockwell's through a process that involves Museums frequently present remarkable creative output and false starts, dead ends and tlle art of illustrators in the the Post's brilliant use of the decisions to drop what once original, even though the narrative image to entertain seemed to be promising ideas or reading public encountered the readers, maintain subscriber eliminate whole sections that no work in its published form as a interest and sell magazines to longer seem to fit. reproduction. Since one of our the American public. We hope A museum exhibition is a purposes in Befon TV is to show that you will come to the team effort that goes well how powerfully these images museum to see this exciting beyond selecting art, writing communicated in their pub exhibit as a prelude to Before TV: brochures and designing layouts. lished form, we cannot rely American Culture, Illustration and No one individual can supply all solely on original paintings to The Saturday Evening Post. 15

exponentially large increase to would be left undone. an already full location. About Volunteerism is a two-way fifty per cent of our volunteers thoroughfare. The benefits that are seasonal "snowbirds" who the museum receives are the follow the sun in the winter and tangible accomplishments of an return when tlle daffodils are index completed, a scrap book blooming. Therefore, when tour filled and a large mailing off to busses and cars fi ll our parking the post office. What the lots, our volunteers are back volunteers receive is very from the sunshine states and important to them but not so ready to meet and greet our ea perceptible. What they mostly Volunteers ger guests. We also have our mention is their enjoyment of stalwart regulars who remain being a part of the museum's OurTrue here to help us when groups of family. Hardly anyone leaves school children fill our class Berkshire County without rooms and galleries. reporting back to us. Postcards Friends T he working hours of a from all over the country cover volunteer vary from four hours the table in the staff lounge, and Jean Drees, Office and Personnel Manager to twenty per week. Every attest to the fact that though our department benefits from the extended museum family may extra assistance. When visitors not be physically present during Pen and Ink on N APRIL OF 1997, THE FIRST walk into the museum, they are the winter months, we are not paper. Inscribed, national conference on likely to meet a volunteer at the far from their thoughts. "A true Friend is volunteerism took place in front desk who will orient them Most valuable prerequisites are the best I possession. " Philadelphia. The country is to the museum galleries, land that volunteers are a part of the Signed lower catching up to what we at the scape, and Norman Rockwell's museum training sessions, all right NIR, 1963, Norman Rockwell Museum have studio, and answer questions on staff events and off site excur from Poor known for a long time, that other important destinations in sions. The training sessions Richard's Almanacks. volunteers are an important the Berkshires. Volunteers include interesting and informa thread in the fabric of our monitor the galleries, assist in tive talks on subjects as varied as society. large mailings and even help the mechanics of creating an oil We have over 30 wonderful with the care of our vast land painting to important back volunteers at the museum. T hey scape. There are many after ground information on Ameri are mostly retired people who hour special events at the can illustrators. These popular decided that they still wanted to Norman Rockwell Museum, and sessions are highlighted with contribute to their community. we can count on our volunteers visual materials, not to mention Speech therapists, insurance to be here to help manage the coffee and bagels. Also, our executives, librarians, editors, evening activities. We also have volunteers are feted annually our volunteer team brings very dedicated behind-the-scene with a heartfelt "Thank You" experiences from all facets of individuals who create a com breakfast hosted by our staff. life. Berkshire County is a puter database, organize our The museum's regular staff and marvelous area from which to news clip files, catalogue archi our volunteers feel that we both draw the extra helping hands val materials and edit this gain a great deal from each that every not-for-profit institu Portfolio. other's company. We welcome tion needs. Without the assistance that any of you to come join us. For Although the county and the we receive from our volunteers, further information on volunteer museum are vibrant year-round not only would we incur addi ing call me, Jean Drees, at the sites, the influx of summer tour tional financial obligations, but Norman Rockwell Museum, ists and fall leaf-peepers adds an also many important tasks 413-298-4100, extension 228. 16

I prefer every time a picture composed and painted Outtroor Reading outdoors . ... Outdoors you have the sky overhead giving one light; then the reflected light from whatever reflects; Jo Ann Losinger, Director of Marketing then the direct light of the sun; so that, in the blending and suffusing of these several illuminations, there is no such thing as a line to be seen anywhere. -Winslow Homer WINSLOW HOMER: His Art. His Light, His Landscapes AKE A LAWN CHAIR, A GLASS Carl Little leads you from journalis of lemonade, and the book tic illustration and the Civil War, T Winslow Homer: His Art, through a wide spectrum of rural His Light, His Landscapes by Carl American life, Canada, England, and Little, and discover one of the the tropics. The essays in this book greatest American artists. This are drawn from a vast body of work, which is now on sale in the scholarship. museum store, highlights the Carl Little is author of several art artist's life and work and is a books including Hopper's New comprehensive companion to the England. He also contributes regu Norman Rockwell Museum exhibi larly to Art New England, Maine tion Winslow Homer: Artist & Times and Art in America, where he Illustrator on view from July 3 to was past associate editor. August 30, 1998. This important art book is a Many of the more than 120 wonderful addition to your library color reproductions appear as full and a great gift for every admirer of and double-page spreads. Only this Homer. Order Winslow Homer: His incredible format can begin to do Art, His Light, His Landscapes, justice to the epic seascapes that are Hardcover, $19.95, Members Price among Homer's most dramatic and $17.95 by calling 1-800-742-9450, accomplished works. The text by or our website at www.nrm.org.

NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION - U.S. POSTAGE T he PAID Permit No. 33 Norman STOCKBRIDGE MA 01262 Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge Stockbridge Massachusetts 01262 Tel. 413-298-4100 The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge

Programs and Events Sunday, July 26, 11 am Thursday, August 13, 5:30pm expression with award-winning illustrator INSIGHTS: TALK & BRUNCI-I CRUDITES AND CONVERSATION! Raul Col6n whose lush, mixed-media Winslow Homer: Hard Times: America in the 1930s illustrations have been critically acclaimed. '1 Working with a manuscript gathering American Watercolorist The Great Depression was the worst economic period in United States history. Take a fascinating research, creating a book dummy, and ,1\ Perhaps the most popular of a ll American look back at America's life and times. John Ferris will p roducing finished art wi ll be explored watercolorists, Winslow Homer began in the Eng lish during this hands-on workshop for aspiring explore the factors that played a role in bringing watercolor tradition, but eventually moved toward and professional children's book illustrators. about the Depression: what it meant to be the vibrant color, free brushwork and spontaneous unemployed, the ideological battles that were Project submission and the business of washes that have influenced and since illustrating children's books in today' s market waged, FDR's New Deal, and the work and dominated expression in the medium. James will also be discussed. cultural programs that offered re lief. Crawford will discuss Homer's training influences Detail. Norman Rockwell's Studio Study #7 by Wendell Minor, ©1997. July 20-24 and career as a watercolor artist, highlighting works John Ferris isthe Education Specialist atthe Franklin Raul Col6n is a freelance illustrator whose work Dr. Ann Boil Howard as Louisa May Alcott. Aug ust 4. in our current exhibition which are on loan from the appears regularly in Business Week The New D. Roosevelt Ubrary and Museum in Hyde Park, New For Adults Canajoharie Ubrary and Art Gallery, where Mr. York. After the program, join us for crudites, con Yorker, and The New York Times. His beautifully Sunday, September 20, 3pm Crawford is curator. $15, $10 members. conceived children's tines include Always My Friday, July 3, 5:30pm to 8pm versation, and a tour of Changes and Challenges: GALLERY TALK Dad A Weave of Words and My Mama Had MEMBERS' PREVIEW OPENING Sunday, July 19, 3pm Rockwell in the 1930s. $10, $8 members. Wednesday, July 29, 1:30pm a Dancing Heart. PDPs and CEUs for Rockwell Paints Another Post Cover Winslow Homer: Artist &' Illustrator GALLERY TALK SPECIAL TOUR Explore Norman Rockwell's extraordinary Sunday, August 16, 3pm educators are available. Join us for this special reception, and enjoy Rockwell in the 1930s Two Artists' Studios: Norman $250, $225 members. relationship with the Saturday Evening Fbst, commentary by David Tatham, PhD" who will Take an irKfepth look at our special exhibition, GALLERY TALK which published 322 of the artist's cover explore the creative connections between the which traces an important and transitional decade Rockwell and Daniel Chester French Winslow Homer and the Sunday, September 6, 3pm illus1Tationsbetween 1916and 1963. With Explore the studios, materials and working artist's commercial illus1Tation and fine art. David in the artist's life through the range of images that American Experience GALLERY TALK museum guide Chartes Debevoise. Tatham is a professor of fine arts at Syracuse methods of two renowned Stockbridge residents Free with museum admission. he created. With museum guide Bob Stevens. Of the great American artists, Homer's art University. He is the author of Wins/ow Homer and - Norman Rockwell and Daniel Chester French. River Walk Free with museum admission. represented the "native school" at its best-a the Illustrated Book and Wins/ow Homer in the Tours at the museum and at Chesterwood will Enjoy breathtaking Berkshire vistas as you s1Toll school that relied upon the stimuli of American life. Exhibitions Adirondacks. Book signing to follow. Monday, July 20 through Friday, July 24 offer insights into each artist's creative process our River Walk along the Housatonic. Assistant Join manager of adult services Stephanie Plunkett 100m t04pm and body of work. $15, $12 members of either manager of visitor services and programs, June 6 through October 25, 1998 for a look at prominent themes reflected in his work Sunday, July 5, 3pm organization. Abigail Diamant will discuss the history of the SUMMER ART lNrENSNE WORKSHOP - from polite society to the Civil War. FOOTLIGLHTS AND FIREFLIES: GALLERY TALK museum site and the contemporary outdoor A Moment In Time: Sunday, August 2, 3pm Free with museum admission. sculpture of Peter Rockwell. SUMMER THEATER AS SEEN BY The Illustration Art of On Location with Wendell Minor GALLERY TALK Free with museum admission. AL HIRSCHFELD Monday, August 17 - Friday, August 21 Winslow Homer Spend a week on location with award-winning Al Hirschfeld: The Language ofLine 100m - 4pm Join exhibition curator Wendy Lutz for an iIIus1Tator Wendell Minor, whose nationally Saturday, September 12, 3pm Through October 25, 1998 Look back to the summer theater of the 1930s SUMMER ART INTENSIVE informative look at the artist's lesser known recognized imagery has graced the covers of TEA & TALK and 40s and the stars who toured the "Straw CHANGES AND CHALLENGES: woodcut illustrations, which were created bestselli ng novels and appeared on the pages The Art ofthe Children SBook Hat Circuit". Assistant manager of visitor services Before TV: American Culture, ROCKWELL IN THE during a successful career as a freelance oftoday's most beautiful children's books. No pictures possess such personal meaning as 1930s Abigail Diamant wi ll discuss the pen and ink illustrator that spanned over two decades. those remembered from childhood. Take an in Illustration and the Saturday An exhibition that highlights an important drawings of 20th century legend AI Hirschfeld. Free with museum admission. Through direct observation, drawing and painting, depth look at the picturebook as a medium of Evening Post and transitional decade in Norman Free with museum admission. students will develop s1Tong visual narratives that Get a 'sneak preview' of our upcoming Rockwell's personal and professional life. Thursday, July 9, 7pm convey a sense of time and place, and invite exhibition about the magazine that shaped Tuesday, August 4, 2pm Always My Dadby Raul Colo n. © 1995, August 17-21 viewer reflection. The evolution of a work of art public perceptions and perpetuated popular, July 3 - August 30, 1998 MOVIE MADNESS! SPECIAL PERFORMANCE Ideals and Aspirations: from idea to finish will be explored, as wi ll the but conflicting, mythologies-extolling WINSLOW HOMER: artist's technique and approach to successful Louisa May Alcott: progress and the American Dream, while An Evening of 1930s Cinema ARTIST & ILLUSTRATOR picturemaking. Managing a career as a working Ruminations on a Proper Education romanticizing American experiences steeped An exhibition that highlights Homer's From the beginnings of cinema a century ago, illus1Tator, creative self-promotion and portfolio In 1937, Norman Rockwell became closely in nostalgia. Dr. Christopher Clarke-Hazlett will illus1Tation career. This exhibit is supported by film writers, directors and actors have produced development wi ll also be discussed. acquainted with the life and works of Louisa May offer an inside look at the curatorial process, The Berkshire Eagle. lasting works of art that have much to teach Alcott. After visiting the Alcott homestead in and invite comment on Before TV'sstoryline in about the fabric of their times, The 1930s were a Wendell Minor has painted the illus1Tations for over ] Concord, he created fifteen illustrations for Ufffe search of interesting leads and detours. Give September 5, 1998 - January 24, 1999 time of crisis and uncertainty in America. Matthew 2,CXX) book jackets and has won over 200 awards us your thoughts, and enjoy the 322 Saturday Women to accompany a biography of the author NORMAN ROCKWELL'S SATURDAY Yakobosky. Curator of Film and Video at the for both his illus1Tations and graphic designs. A in Women's Home Companion magazine. Evening Post cover tearsheets that will be on Whitney Museum of American Art, will take a former Society of Illustrators president and School view. EVENING POST COVERS fascinating look at the form and function of 1930s of Visual Arts professor, his highly acclaimed Ms.Alcott, portrayed by Ann Bail Howard, PhD" A chronological look at Rockwell's 322 Fbst cinema - from realist critique to escapism. children's books include such titles as Heartland, will join us to reflect on the education of boys and Christopher Clarke-Hazlett, PhD. is a curator cover tearsheets. Shaker Hearts, Arctic Son, and Grassroots. His girls in her day during this special workshop for all and historian at the Strong Museum in Before our screening, enjoy tours of Changes and original paintings have been exhibited at the Art ages. Dr. Ann Bail Howard is a Chataqua scholar Rochester, New York, where he has Permanent Exhibits Challenges: Rockwell in the 1930s, family art Institute of Chicago, The Boston Public Ubrary, and and a professor of Eng lish at the University of developed major exhibitions about American activities, a picnic on museum grounds, and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art among others. Nevada, Reno. Program is free and held at culture and identity. Free with museum My ADVENTURES AS AN lLLUSTRlXTOR some great "movie food". PDPs and CEUs for educators are available. Linwood House on museum grounds. admission. MIRROR ON AMERICA $10 adults, $2 children, members free. $250, $225 members. Does not include museum admission. My BEST STUDIO YET Wednesday, August 19, 1-5pm P ICTURES AND M ORE! Telling Tales 1:00 Tell your own tall tale by making a book in this open class for a ll ages with writer/educator KlmConley. 2:30 Join in a family tour of the exhibition

Pumpemickel Puppetsl August 19 Rockwell in the 305. 3:00 Pumpernickel Puppets enchant Wednesday, July 15, 1-5pm audiences with classic ta les for a ll ages. PICTURES AND MORE! Children free thanks to KB Toys! Half-price for Sea Stories aduHs with children. 1:00 Paint in watercolor your idea of a vacation by the sea Monday through Friday 2:30 Leam about the work of Winslow Homer August 24-28 with exhibition curator Wendy Lutz lOam to 12 noon 3:00 Celebrate songs of the sea with TECHNIQUES folksinger/balladeer Jim Douglas! His Capturing a Moment repertoire includes Massachusetts ballads, For ages 8 and up, adults welcome. colonial songs and whaling songs in Join artist H. M. Saffer as he explores the art of addition to tall tales. Children free thanks to capturing a moment in a d rawing. Partici I KB Toys! Half-price for adults with children. pants will work outdoors and draw or paint works inspired by the museum's site. Bring a Tuesdays, 10-11 am sketchbook; a ll other materia ls provided. July 7, 14,21 and 28 Enjoy any number of these sessions, or the August 4, 11 and 18 whole week! $10, $8 members for each day. TECHNIQUES Includes museum admission. Drawing Together Please pre-register. For parents and children ages 4 and up. Take time out from your busy days to relax Saturday, September 19, 1-5pm together in an art class for both of you. FAMILY TIME Here is an opportunity for parents and Programs Drawn to the Earth children to try out different art media and and 1:00 Sketch the beauty of the Berkshires on the share an experience. Fee per person: $5 for each class. Take hillside overlooking the Hoosatonic River. one, or take them all! Inc ludes museum 1:30 Take a nature walk a long the Even1s admission. Please pre-register. Hoosatonic River with Judy Isacoff of the Berkshire Botanical Garden to learn about Summer 1998 the w ild life and plants on the property. Thursdays, 10-11 :30 3:00 Speaking the Earth's Wisdom Join July 9, 16, 23 and 30 August 6, 13 and 20 storyteller Rona Leventhal as she weaves together drama, movement. songs and TECHNIQUES humor in a delightful array of stories for a ll Summer Sketch Club ages to enjoy. Children free thanks to KB Toys! For ages 8-12. Half-price for adults with children. Explore basic art concepts- line, shape, color, texture, etc. in this outdoor drawing class. In case of rain or extreme heat. c lass will meet in the studio classroom. Bring sketchbooks/pads. Other materials provided. $10, $8 members. Includes museum admission. Please pre-register.

Pain~ng!

Call (413) 298-4100 ext. 220 for reservations or information. Pre-registration for all programs is requested; fees include museum admission. All programs take place at the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, Route 183. Stockbridge, MA 01262, unless otherwise indicated. Museum members receive special program discounts and more! For membership information, please call (413) 298-4100 ext. 234.