We at the Norman Rockwell Museum were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Jerry Pinkney (1939-2021), a true master of American illustration and one of the kindest and most genuine individuals that we have every had the pleasure of working with. We have been fortunate to collaborate with this gifted artist on several important projects over the course of two decades and to share Jerry’s work in two major national traveling exhibitions, Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney and Jerry Pinkney, Imaginings: An Artist’s Explorations of Images and Words. A great friend to the Museum and always generous with his time and talents, Jerry worked closely with us to spark creativity in enthusiastic students at regional schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and we were proud to launch a curriculum project created in conjunction with these projects.  In 2016, Jerry became the Museum’s Artist Laureate, advocating for our work and highlighting the power of illustration and storytelling to educate and inspire.  “It has been the honor of a lifetime to work with Jerry Pinkney on so many significant initiatives, and I have been grateful for his warm and supportive friendship through the years. His generosity, intelligence, and buoyant spirit will forever be remembered,” said Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, Deputy Director and Chief Curator.

Most recently, Jerry worked with us as an esteemed and knowledgeable advisor to Imprinted: Perceptions of Race in lllustration, an exhibition that will be on view at the Museum next summer. Jerry will be greatly missed, but his generous spirit, extraordinary artworks, and the powerful messages contained within them leave an indelible legacy. “Jerry was beloved in the world and by all of us at Norman Rockwell Museum. Distinguished NRM Artist Laureate, Jerry created indelible images that will continue to delight and educate us all to America’s history and mythology. We are bereft by his loss and take comfort in having so many wonderful memories of working meaningfully together for many years,” shared Laurie Norton Moffatt, director/CEO.

Our sincere condolences to Gloria Jean Pinkney, Jerry’s wife of more than six decades, and the entire Pinkney family, for the very sad loss of their beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather.

About Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkney’s unforgettable visual narratives reflect deeply felt personal and cultural themes, bearing witness to the African-American experience, the wonders of classic literature, and the wisdom in well-loved folk tales. A belief in the ability of images to speak about and to humanity is at this artist’s core. His artworks celebrating life’s small but extraordinary moments and significant historical events reflect the power of visual storytelling in our lives, “becoming the voice that others may not have had.”

Jerry  icons of living culture have, since 1960, been an important part of the American visual landscape. Created for the covers and pages of periodicals and picture books, postage stamps, greeting cards, advertisements, and well-traveled historic sites, his art is intimately encountered by a vast and eager audience seeking meaning in the stories he has chosen to tell.

Born on December 22, 1939, and raised in Philadelphia, Pinkney never imagined that a career in art might be possible. In his modest but loving home, his creativity was encouraged by his mother Willie Mae, a homemaker, and his father James, a craftsman with a flair for style. “I was drawing to learn,” Pinkney later reflected, “but no one was able to point me to a way of making a living in art.”

At home, storytelling was treasured oral tradition. Pinkney’s parents, who migrated from the South, retold classic folk tales in rhythmic cadences that captured his imagination, providing a sense of cultural belonging. The legend of John Henry, the adventures of Uncle Remus, and The Ugly Duckling, all illustrated by the artist later in life, were among his favorites.

While working at a local newspaper stand, sketching whenever he could, Pinkney met cartoonist John J. Liney—known for his work on the comic strip, Henry—who offered a glimpse into the professional world of art. At Dobbins Vocational High School, Pinkney immersed himself in the commercial art program, taking courses in calligraphy, drafting, and graphic design, and drawing regularly from the live model. Determined to succeed, he entered the Philadelphia School of Art as a design student and scholarship recipient, the first in his family to achieve higher education.ht become.

Taking his first professional step in 1960, at The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company in Dedham, Massachusetts, Pinkney entered the field a designer with an emerging interest in the art of illustration. Boston’s publishing industry proved supportive of his work, and in 1964, while at Barker-Black Studio, he produced The Adventures of Spider: West African Folk Tales by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst—the first of more than 100 picture books to come. As co-founder of Kaleidoscope, an independent art studio, Pinkney deepened his commitment to illustration, and in 1965, made the bold decision to launch a career as a freelance artist.    As he and wife Gloria Jean Pinkney raised their young family, opportunities to create culturally-themed picture books emerged. During the 1960s, the unwritten mid-century conventions that avoided depictions of ethnicity in published art began to fall away, inspired by the demand for more inclusive representations. Pinkney’s art reflected his own compassionate nature, and his desire to be “a strong role model for my family and other African Americans” was becoming a reality.

By the time he moved to the New York area in 1970, he had already received professional accolades and public recognition. Book publishers engaged him to illustrate stories inspired by the realities of the African American experience, and corporations offered high-profile commissions, carrying historical conscience more deeply into popular culture. A lover of music—from jazz and blues to classical—Pinkney enjoyed the chance to illustrate album covers for RCA Records, and calendars honoring jazz greats of the Harlem Renaissance for Smirnoff. Distributed widely by Seagram Distillers in the mid 1970s, African American Journey to Freedom looks back on history, from the Great Migration to the Voting Rights Act of 1965—a series of 35 paintings that are now among the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

In the 1970s, Pinkney’s art for contemporary fiction referenced the real-life experiences of people of color. Book jackets for the Newbery Medal winner, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, and many others, became the face of living, breathing characters that readers could believe in. His commissions included powerful, carefully researched art for National Geographic and the National Guard, significant cultural documents. “These addressed the experience of being African American, and the importance of African American contributions to society,” he said. “I wanted to be a strong role model, and to show my children the possibilities that lay ahead for them. That was very important.”

Family loomed large in Pinkney’s important mid-career works that opened a window onto the everyday lives of African Americans. Pivotal were his 1985 illustrations for The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy’s reflection on the intergenerational bonds within an African American family. The book’s appearance on PBS television’s Reading Rainbow brought its message to a broad audience, and signified success. Pinkney’s warm, humanizing portrayals of people from the past in books like Back Home and The Sunday Outing, written by Gloria Jean Pinkney, were replete with images recalled from childhood, establishing a positive, empathetic view.

In 1987, an enduring collaboration was launched when Pinkney was invited to illustrate The Tales of Uncle Remus, retold by author Julius Lester. Working to capture the spirit of these stories, Pinkney and Lester left stereotypes behind, and explored new cultural narratives. John Henry offered the opportunity, in 1994, to “create an African American hero that would inspire all.” Familiar, too, was the story of Ybo Landing, the subject of Lester’s masterpiece, The Old African, a stirring legend infused with magical realism, brought to life by the artist in 2005.

Published in 1998, Black Cowboys, Wild Horses: A True Story shed light on the contributions of people of color on the frontier. The artist’s dynamic, textural paintings provide sensory depictions of Bob Lemmons’ struggle and triumph over the unforgiving plains. “As a boy growing up in the 1940s, Westerns were huge,” remembered the artist. “I found out later that many cowboys were black and Mexican, as were stagecoach drivers, saloon proprietors, laborers, and explorers.”

In other books like Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder, Pinkney pieced together historical facts to construct visual realities—a skill that he has brought to several site-specific commissions. In 2008, he gave voice to documented northern slaves in a series of powerful works for the African American Burial Ground Interpretive Center in New York. “My role was to individualize the people who were buried there,” he said, “to give a face to history.” Installations for the National Parks Service at Arlington House, the Booker T. Washington National Historic Site, and the George Washington Carver National Monument, are stunning recreations based in fact.

The recipient of the 2010 Caldecott Medal, as well as five Caldecott Honor Medals, five Coretta Scott King Awards, and four Coretta Scott King Honor Awards, Pinkney has received many commendations for his outstanding body of work, including the Original Art’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators, in 2006. Always wishing to give back, he served on the United States Postal Service Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee for 10 years, from 1982 to 1992, and in 2003, was appointed to the National Council on the Arts/NEA, where he became an influential advocate for arts funding. In 2011, Jerry was inducted in to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, a well-deserved acknowledgement of an exceptional career. The artist’s recent book projects have included the Caldecott-winning The Lion and the Mouse, and A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation, of which he was extremely proud.

Always rooting for the underdog, he continues to make images that bear witness to an underlying belief that all things are possible. Reaching beyond their aesthetic and conceptual underpinnings, his vibrant illustrations reveal larger truths about who we are and who we might become.

Family Guide

Across his fifty-five-year journey as an illustrator, Jerry Pinkney has cast a warm, curious eye on our world to create images that reflect his passion for life, his love of family and community, and his deep engagement with the rich complexities of history. His award-winning illustrations have appeared in more than one hundred books. Jerry Pinkney: Imaginings reflects the artist’s love of literature, and the process of creating meaningful visual solutions that expand and enliven a narrative.

We hope you will enjoy this guide to Jerry Pinkney: Imaginings, which features artworks inspired by classic and contemporary literature, and by well-loved folk tales and fairy tales. It includes looking, writing, and drawing activities to experience in the galleries and at home.

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett
Deputy Director/Chief Curator
Norman Rockwell Museum

Family Traditions

Jerry and Gloria Jean Pinkney raised their young family, opportunities to illustrate picture books emerged, and the artist challenged himself to create true authenticity in his art. During the 1960s, the unwritten conventions of mid-century that avoided depictions of ethnicity in published art began to fall away, inspired by public demand for more inclusive cultural representations. As a father and as an illustrator striving to avoid stereotype, he began to understand art’s power to construct perceptions about race and society.

Family loomed large in important mid-career works that opened a window onto the everyday lives of African Americans, and Pinkney’s empathetic depictions reflected his own compassionate nature. His illustrations for The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy’s poignant 1985 story about the intergenerational bonds within an African American family, were pivotal. The book’s appearance on PBS television’s

Reading Rainbow, which promoted quality literature for children, shared its message widely and signified success. In the 1990s, Back Home and The Sunday Outing, two books written by the artist’s wife, Gloria Jean Pinkney, brought family memories and traditions to light. In this exhibition, Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.’s swing spiritual, God Bless the Child, was the inspiration for Pinkney’s moving depiction of one family’s move north during the Great Migration of the 1930s—something his family, too, had experienced.

Curriculum (Grades 6-12): Making Positive Change

Build writing skills, media literacy, and civic responsibility as you explore ways that Jerry Pinkney helped to diversify children’s literature.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Goals:

• Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Curriculum (Grades, K-5): Heros

Build literacy skills and social responsibility as you explore ways that Jerry Pinkney helped to diversify children’s literature.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Goals:

• Practice Close Reading
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis and reflection

Curriculum (Grades K-5): Picturing Words

Build comprehension skills as you investigate Jerry Pinkney’s process as an illustrator.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Goals:

• Practice Close Reading
• Interpret words and phrases in a text
• Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats