FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2022

PRESS CONTACT:
Alyssa Stüble
presscontact@nrm.org; 413-931-2290
Images, videos, and interviews available upon request.

NEW SPECIAL EXHIBITION NORMAN ROCKWELL: DRAWINGS OPENS THIS FALL
Museum publishes comprehensive collection catalogue on Rockwell’s drawings.

STOCKBRIDGE, MA—Norman Rockwell Museum (NRM) announces the opening of a newly curated exhibition featuring rarely-seen Norman Rockwell drawings and preliminary studies from his six-decade career on view September 10, 2022, through January 7, 2023. The exhibition coincides with the release of Norman Rockwell: Drawings, 1911-1976, a new book by Abbeville Press written by Museum curators Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and Jesse Kowalski, available in early October.

Best known for his magazine covers and illustrations for stories, books, and advertisements, Norman Rockwell was also a prolific draftsman who utilized drawing as an essential tool in creating his work. Whether rough or highly refined, his process made it possible for him to envision every aspect and composition of a final painting before it was begun. Inspired by fellow expert draftsmen, his influences included Rembrandt van Rijn, Howard Pyle, J.C. Leyendecker, and the life drawings of George Bridgman. Each final illustration involved five to fifteen steps despite urgent publishing deadlines. His production timeline varied greatly given the fast-paced nature of illustration – it could take several weeks or months to produce a final work.

For example, he was given eight weeks to finish the Four Freedoms series, but his precision and attention to detail required seven months. His process included concept thumbnail sketches, artist-directed photo shoots with models and props (often Rockwell himself demonstrated or posed), and pencil or charcoal drawings to refine the composition, in addition to color studies. Prior to a final oil painting Rockwell noted “I take the making of the charcoal layouts very seriously; too many novices, I believe, wait until they are on the canvas before trying to solve many of their problems. It is much better to wrestle with them ahead through studies.”

Many of the drawings in the exhibition were rolled and stored in his studio and are now part of the NRM collection. “Thanks to generous conservation grants, and after more than two decades of extensive work to restore these drawings they are now able to be enjoyed by the public and future generations,” noted Director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt. “We are honored to shine a light on Rockwell’s mastery as a draftsman and graphic composer, and to demonstrate his use of drawing as a practice central in his life and to artistic excellence.”

Because Rockwell created so many drawings for his over 4,000 final paintings, there are innumerable works not in the Museum’s collection. Frequently, the illustrator gave away the drafts to the models, friends, or colleagues,

often inscribed; today many are privately held, or “whereabouts unknown.” Regrettably – some may have been disposed of, and/or were lost in his Arlington, Vermont studio fire in 1943. In recent years Rockwell’s drawings have been appreciated for their beauty and craftsmanship and are prized by collectors. Happily, previously unknown works are surfacing, including the artist’s two earliest published drawings – created for the American Book Company in 1911, they are featured among the collection of Syracuse University Libraries.

Many of Rockwell’s studies show where his erasure thinned the paper and how sections were cut out and redrawn; pinholes reveal where reference photographs were tacked to his easel. Rarely published, work such as this would have been used for the artist’s own reference These drawings go beyond that of preparatory work and offer a glimpse into the thought process of a superb realist illustrator and explore the act of drawing as an essential tool in Rockwell’s artistic practice.

“The public is fascinated by Rockwell’s drawings which provide a behind the scenes look into the artist’s thinking and working process. In our galleries, original artworks are often paired with studies to highlight the ways in which Rockwell’s initial concepts develop and change prior to the publication of a finished image,” says Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, NRM Deputy Director/Chief Curator.

In addition to the collection of Rockwell’s artwork and archives, NRM’s collection includes almost twenty-five thousand art objects donated by artists and collectors since the Museum’s founding in 1969, a number of these works will be on view. Significant collections

include the archives of the Famous Artist School, for which Rockwell was a founding instructor; a historic collection of illustrated World War I posters; a substantial body of work by cartoonist and book illustrator William Steig. The Museum houses hundreds of artworks by Golden Age illustrators such as Charles Dana Gibson, Thomas Fogarty, James Montgomery Flagg, George Bridgman, Edmund Ward, and others. Numerous artists and their families have donated a substantial number of original works of art to the permanent collection, including Elwood Smith, Ruth Sanderson, Lynn Pauley, Jacqui Morgan, Robert and Jean Ratley Cunningham, Ted and Betsy Lewin, Wendell Minor, Rudolf Freund, Emanuel Schongut, among many others.

The forthcoming book, the companion exhibition catalogue, Norman Rockwell: Drawings 1911-1976 published by Abbeville Press, was written by Museum curators Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and Jesse Kowalski, with a foreword by Louis Henry Mitchell, Creative Director of Character Design at Sesame Workshop. This 256 page hardcover book features 150 illustrations and will be available for sale in October, with a limited supply of advance copies at the Museum in September.

RELATED EVENT:
Norman Rockwell’s Drawings: A Conversation and Book Signing
Saturday, September 17 • 4:30 – 6 p.m.

ABOUT NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

The Norman Rockwell Museum illuminates the power of American illustration art to reflect and shape society, and advances the enduring values of kindness, respect, and social equity portrayed by Norman Rockwell. The Museum holds the world’s largest and most significant collection of art and archival materials relating to Rockwell’s life and work, while also preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting a growing collection of art by other American illustrators throughout history. The Museum engages diverse audiences through onsite and traveling exhibitions, as well as publications, arts and humanities programs, including the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, and extensive online resources. Visit the Museum online at www.nrm.org. Museum hours are 10 am – 5 pm; closed Wednesdays. Advanced ticket purchase suggested; reserve on NRM.org.