Stockbridge: Inspiring Rockwell, 1953-1978

May 7 – September 4, 2022

Stockbridge, Massachusetts has become a tourist destination in large part due to Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1967 painting Home for Christmas (Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas), which memorializes the town’s Main Street and epitomizes Rockwell’s nostalgic view of small town America.

Norman Rockwell in Main Street Studio, 1954

Henry (Bill) W.  Scovill, II (1914-1997)
Norman Rockwell in Main Street Studio, 1954
Photograph (from negative)
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection

In the fall of 1953, Rockwell rented studio space in the center of Stockbridge, Massachusetts over Sullivan’s Meat Market and soon leased the adjoining room. With permission, he enlarged the north window, and removed the dividing wall to create one large workspace. Over the next four years, the artist produced many popular Saturday Evening Post covers including Breaking Home Ties (1954), Girl at Mirror (1954), Art Critic (1955), and Marriage License (1955). This remained his studio until August 1957 when Rockwell purchased a property on South Main Street.

Rockwell’s second wife, Mary, passed away in 1959. Two years later, he married local school teacher, Mollie Punderson. Rockwell left the Saturday Evening Post in 1963, ending his forty-six year relationship with the magazine. He subsequently worked for several magazines and advertisers, focusing on a wide variety of topics, including Civil Rights, the Peace Corps, NASA, the displacement of Native Americans at Glen Canyon Dam, film posters, and even the cover of a 1969 rock album by Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. In an effort led by Mollie that same year, the couple established what would become the Norman Rockwell Museum on Main Street in Stockbridge. Rockwell continued to work until his death in 1978.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in New York City in 1894, Norman Rockwell always wanted to be an artist. At age 14, Rockwell enrolled in art classes at The New York School of Art (formerly The Chase School of Art). Two years later, in 1910, he left high school to study art at The National Academy of Design. He soon transferred to The Art Students League, where he studied with Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman. Fogarty’s instruction in illustration prepared Rockwell for his first commercial commissions. From Bridgman, Rockwell learned the technical skills on which he relied throughout his long career. Learn more…

IMAGES

Spring Flowers, 1969

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Spring Flowers, 1969
Illustration for “Arranging the Flowers That Bloom in the Spring,” McCall’s, May 1969
Oil on canvas
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.090
©Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All rights reserved.

For Spring Flowers, Rockwell staged the “potting shed” in his studio. His wife Mollie, an avid flower gardener, provided Rockwell with every prop he needed for this commission except the flowers. Since the artwork was painted in December and January for McCall’s May issue, Rockwell purchased the flowers from a florist. Thinking her own were too old, Mollie bought a new pair of sneakers to be used in the painting, but Rockwell stained them with dirt and grass for a more authentic look.

Springtime in Stockbridge

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Norman Rockwell’s 78th Spring (Springtime in Stockbridge), 1971
Illustration for “Norman Rockwell’s 78th Spring,” Look, June 1, 1971
Oil on canvas
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.091
©Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All rights reserved.

In 1971, Look art director Allen Hurlburt, who had worked with Norman Rockwell for seven years, celebrated Rockwell’s 78th birthday by writing an essay on the artist. The accompanying illustration featured Rockwell on his daily bicycle ride through Stockbridge as the trees became alive with green leaves. Rockwell and his wife Mollie were joined by Birgit Christensen, a visiting Danish art student, and Douglas McGregor, the artist’s bookkeeper, as they pedaled along West Main Street. Rockwell’s assistant Louie Lamone can be seen on the right, leaning against a tree by the town cemetery.

Springtime in Stockbridge includes several of Stockbridge’s landmarks. Originally built in 1824, the First Congregational Church is the Federal-style brick structure. Erected in 1878 on the original missionary church site established by John Sergeant, Dudley Field Memorial Tower (or Children’s Chime Tower) is a three-story carillon constructed of stone topped with a wooden belfry. Gifted to the town in memory of his grandchildren, David Dudley Field II requested that the bells ring every evening at 5:30 between “apple blossom time and the first frost on the pumpkin.” In 1839, the white Greek Revival building which served as the town hall was erected on the church’s property as a gift. In 1903, Town House (or Procter Hall) was expanded with a Neo-Classical style addition.

For much of his life, Norman Rockwell was an avid bicycler. Well into their late seventies, he and his wife Mollie would ride 4.7 miles daily from their home to nearby Echo Lake (Lake Averic) and back. According to the artist, “The country roads around Stockbridge are quite good. There’s only one hill I’ve got to walk up, we call it Cardiac Hill.”

Norman Rockwell Visits a Family Doctor

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Home for Christmas (Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas), 1967
Illustration for “Home for Christmas,” McCall’s, December 1967
Oil on board
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.078
©Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All rights reserved.

Built in 1884, the front facade of the Town Office Building can be spotted in Rockwell’s iconic painting Home for Christmas (Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas). The Flemish Revival structure features stepped gables and tower as well as terra cotta and stained glass ornaments. It was constructed of brick to protect the town’s records from fire. The town sold the building to private owners in 1960 and has since been used as commercial space.

Cobbler Studying Doll’s Shoe

Louie Lamone (1918–2007)
Norman Rockwell at easel painting Home for Christmas (Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas), 1967
Photograph (from negative)
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, ST1976.5930

Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Marriage License, 1955
Cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post, June 11, 1955
Oil on canvas
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.014
©SEPS: Curtis Licensing, IN, All rights reserved.

In Marriage License, Rockwell captured the dark wood-paneled interior of the town clerk’s office on Main Street. Using artistic freedom, he replaced an existing metal file cabinet in the left foreground with an old railroad station stove, and changed the lettering on the door from “Town Clerk” to “Marriage Licenses.” He added the June calendar page, a flowerpot on the windowsill, and a contented cat. His model for the town clerk was Town Treasurer Graham D. Wilcox, who recently lost his wife. Through the open window, the viewer can see the exterior wall of Housatonic National Bank, which is now Berkshire Bank.

Crestwood Commuter Station

Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978)
The new American LaFrance is here!, 1971
Advertising illustration for A-T-O, Inc.
Oil on canvas
Private Collection

In the early 1970s, the A-T-O Corporation commissioned Rockwell to create several full-color oil paintings to advertise their products. Rockwell’s business correspondence regarding the first assignment included a reference photo of American-LaFrance’s latest model fire engine. The only directions that Rockwell received were to make the engine’s color almost maroon and to use the eagle emblem on the front. The backdrop for this painting is Stockbridge’s fire station on Elm Street. The enthusiastic townspeople bring life and human interest to the picture, which revolves around the arrival of the company’s latest product.

In the early years of the Norman Rockwell Museum, the building served as its mail order facility. In 1974, The Red Lion Inn purchased the former village firehouse and renovated it into a one-of-a-kind guesthouse experience.

Mine America’s Coal

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Portrait of Dr. Donald E. Campbell, 1954
Advertising study for Doctor and Boy Looking at Thermometer, The Upjohn Company
Pencil on paper
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, NRM.2007.10

Dr. Donald E. Campbell (1906-2001) was Stockbridge’s charismatic, beloved family physician for fifty years, with a practice located on Main Street. At times, he accepted garden vegetables, venison, or key lime pies in exchange for his office visit fee. The doctor modeled for Rockwell on several occasions.

Inspired by a painting from the April 12, 1947 Saturday Evening Post story “Norman Rockwell Visits a Family Doctor,” this Upjohn Company advertising study features a similar composition of a boy and doctor looking at the thermometer. Rockwell gave the sketch to the physician with the inscription, “Portrait of the old flirt.” In an interview, the doctor mentioned that Rockwell wrote this because the artist simply thought he looked like an old flirt, not necessarily because he was one.

Mine America’s Coal

Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978)
Becky Sharp, ca.1965
Color study for unpublished illustration
Oil on canvas
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Gift of Donald and Christina Kraemer, NRM.1989.04
©Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All rights reserved.

Becky Sharp illustrates a storyline from William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1847 novel Vanity Fair, which is set during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s. A central character in the book, Rebecca “Becky” Sharp is shown surrounded by admirers. Rockwell selected his close friend, Jane Fitzpatrick, as his model, and cast her husband Jack as the officer to her left. References for the story’s supporting fictional characters included Dr. Ian Story, Harry Dwight, Arthur the gardener, Doug McGregor, and David Swan.

John “Jack” H. (1923-2011) and his wife, Jane Pratt Fitzpatrick (1923-2013) have figured prominently in Stockbridge’s tourism industry. In 1968, they purchased The Red Lion Inn, which is still operated by their family, and moved their mail order business Country Curtains (1956-2017) into part of the building. Their generosity and support has benefitted the Berkshire Theatre Festival and Norman Rockwell Museum as well as other local cultural institutions. From 1973 to 1980, Jack Fitzpatrick served in the Massachusetts State Senate and was fondly referred to as “The Senator” for the remainder of his life.

Mine America’s Coal

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
The Fencer, ca.1960
Painted in Peggy Best’s sketch class
Tempera on board
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.060
©Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All rights reserved.

In the summer of 1960, Norman Rockwell and his daughter-in-law, Gail, joined Peggy Worthington Best’s sketch class to get him out of the house, following the death of his wife Mary. The session was held on Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at Best’s studio on Pine Street. Rockwell enjoyed sketching live models and experimenting with different mediums and techniques. The time constraints prevented him from laboring too long over any one image, resulting in figures that were looser and less detailed than his commissioned work.

Mine America’s Coal

Photographer unknown
Norman Rockwell Riding His Bicycle, ca.1972
Color photograph
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Gift of Marjorie Blair, RC.2007.9.2

MEDIA

VENUE(S)

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA      May 7 through September 4, 2022

RELATED EVENTS

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Hours

OPEN
Mon 10am-4pm
Tue 10am-4pm
Thu 10am-4pm
Fri 10am-4pm
Sat 10am-5pm
Sun 10am-5pm

CLOSED
Wednesdays
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
New Year’s Day
ROCKWELL’S STUDIO
Closed for the season.
Opens May 1, 2025

Special Holiday Hours: Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve: 10am-2pm.

Admissions

There are limited daily tickets for tours of Norman Rockwell’s Studio. It is recommended you purchase your museum admission and studio tour tickets online in advance of your visit.  Museum Visit admission is required for all tours.

Buy Admission

Members Adult Seniors /
Veterans & Military		 Children MA Teachers College
Students
Museum Visit: Free $25 $23 Free $22 $10
Curator Tour:
Original Sisters		 $10 + $20 + $20 Free + $20 + $20
Guided Tour:
Rockwell’s Life & Art
(40 minutes)		 Free +$10 +$10 Free +$10 +$10

There are limited daily tickets for tours of Norman Rockwell’s Studio. It is recommended you purchase your museum admission and studio tour tickets online in advance of your visit.  Museum Visit admission is required for all tours.

Buy Admission

Museum Visit:
Members, Children, & Active Military: FREE
Adults: $25
Seniors & Retired Military: $23
MA Teachers: $22
College Students: $10

Guided Tour:
Rockwell’s Life & Art
(40 minutes) – additional purchase
Members, Children, & Active Military: FREE
Ticket per person: $10

Curator Tour:
Original Sisters
Members: $10
Children: FREE
Adults: $20
Seniors & Active/Retired Military: $20
College Students: $20

Additional Discount Opportunities:

  • Front Line Medical Workers receive free admission.
  • AAA member, NARM member, Stockbridge Resident, and EBT/WIC/ConnectorCare Cardholder discounts available.

For Free and Reduced prices, you may be required to present a valid ID demonstrating your status for qualifying for discounted pricing.

Available Discounts
Kids Free is supported by:
Connector Card is supported by:
Norman Rockwell Museum receives support from:

DIRECTIONS

Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Route 183
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413-298-4100 x 221

Download a Printable version of Driving Directions (acrobat PDF).

Important note: Many GPS and online maps do not accurately place Norman Rockwell Museum*. Please use the directions provided here and this map image for reference. Google Maps & Directions are correct! http://maps.google.com/

* Please help us inform the mapping service companies that incorrectly locate the Museum; let your GPS or online provider know and/or advise our Visitor Services office which source provided faulty directions.

Route 7 runs north to south through the Berkshires. Follow Route 7 South to Stockbridge. Turn right onto Route 102 West and follow through Main Street Stockbridge. Shortly after going through town, you will veer to the right to stay on Route 102 West for approximately 1.8 miles. At the flashing light, make a left onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

Route 7 runs north to south through the Berkshires. Follow Route 7 North into Stockbridge. Turn left onto Route 102 West at the stop sign next to The Red Lion Inn. Shortly after you make the left turn, you will veer to the right to stay on Route 102 West for approximately 1.8 miles. At the flashing light, make a left onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

Boston (two-and-a-half hours) or Springfield (one hour):
Take the Ma ssachusetts Turnpike (I-90) West, getting off at exit 10 (formerly exit 2) – Lee. At the light at the end of the ramp turn left onto Route 20 East and then immediately turn right onto Route 102 West. Follow Route 102 West into Stockbridge Center (about five miles). Continue going west on Route 102 (Main St.). Shortly after going through town, you will veer to the right to stay on Route 102 West for approximately 1.8 miles. At the flashing light, make a left onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

from Albany and west: (one hour) Take I-90 east to exit B3 – Route 22. Go south on New York Route 22 to Massachusetts Route 102 East. Stay on Route 102 East through West Stockbridge. Continue on Route 102 East approximately 5.5 miles until you come to a blinking light at the intersection of Route 183. Make a right at the blinking light onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

(two-and-a-half hours) Take either the New York State Thruway or the Taconic State Parkway to I-90 East. Follow I-90 East to exit B3 – Route 22. Go south on New York Route 22 to Massachusetts Route 102 East. Stay on Route 102 East through West Stockbridge. Continue on Route 102 East approximately 5.5 miles until you come to a blinking light at the intersection of Route 183. Make a right at the blinking light onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

(one-and-a-half hours) Take I-91 North to the Massachusetts Turnpike. Take the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) West, getting off at exit 10 (formerly exit 2) – Lee. At the light at the end of the ramp turn left onto Route 20 East and then immediately turn right onto Route 102 West. Follow Route 102 West into Stockbridge Center (about five miles). Continue going west on Route 102 (Main St.). Shortly after going through town, you will veer to the right to stay on Route 102 West for approximately 1.8 miles. At the flashing light, make a left onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

(five minutes)
Go west on Route 102 (Main St.). Shortly after going through town, you will veer to the right to stay on Route 102 West for approximately 1.8 miles. At the flashing light, make a left onto Route 183 South and the Museum entrance is 0.6 miles down on the left.

SHOP

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