Mystery and Wonder: Highlights From The Illustration Collection

March 2 through June 16, 2024

Explore the captivating worlds of mystery and wonder in this exhibition featuring highlights from the Norman Rockwell Museum’s Permanent Collection, which now holds almost 25,000 illustrations by prominent artists working across genres and time periods. On display are cover art for award-winning novels and mysteries, children’s book illustrations inspired by […]

TONY SARG: GENIUS AT PLAY

Adventures in Illustration, Puppetry, and American Popular Culture

This exhibition is organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum and supported, in part, with generous funding from the

National Endowment for the Arts 

Lead Sponsor:

Media Sponsor:

Norman Rockwell: Highlights from the Collection

On View Now 

Life’s simple pleasures and the blush of first love are the focus of Norman Rockwell’s 1926 Saturday Evening Post cover, which portrays a young couple entranced by the moon, and by each other’s company. Their rickety wooden seating bends under their weight but does not deter them from their reverie, for they are taking time […]

Norman Rockwell: Winter Wonderland

On View November 4 through February 25, 2024

Among Norman Rockwell’s best-known illustrations are heartwarming scenes that capture the essence of American holiday traditions celebrated throughout the year⸺from Valentine’s Day and Independence Day to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the magic of the Christmas season.

In Our Lifetime: Paintings from the Pandemic by Kadir Nelson

Final Days: Closing November 2

June 11 through November 2, 2022

“I’ve always loved creating a narrative with my work, and as we all lived through the pandemic as it gained momentum, each painting I created began to tell a visual story, historical documents on canvases that chronicled the emotional, political, and social pulse of the world […]

Norman Rockwell Drawings, 1914-1976

September 10, 2022 through March 26, 2023

Though best known for his painted magazine covers and illustrations for stories, books, and advertisements, Norman Rockwell was also a prolific and masterful draftsman who utilized drawing as an essential underpinning of his art. Whether rough or highly refined, Rockwell’s drawing process made it possible for him to envision every aspect of a final work […]

Lincoln Memorial Centennial Exhibition: The Lincoln Memorial Illustrated

Created in collaboration with Chesterwood to honor the Lincoln Memorial’s centennial in May 2022, this exhibition will highlight the work of illustrators and artists who have incorporated the Lincoln Memorial into their art as a symbolic element – an instantly-recognizable icon upon which to build meaning. Approximately fifty historical and contemporary artworks by noted […]

BASCOVE: The Time We Spend with Words

Permanent Collection Highlight Exhibition
March 12 through May 30, 2022

Known by the mononym, Bascove, Anne Bascove is a master printmaker, illustrator, painter, and collagist best known for her striking woodcut book jacket and magazine illustrations as well as for her series of paintings and drawings of the bridges of New York City. Inspired by the written word throughout her life, […]

Stockbridge: Inspiring Rockwell, 1953-1978

May 7 – September 4, 2022

Henry (Bill) W.  Scovill, […]

Fantastical Rockwell

February 4 through June 5, 2022

A perceptive observer, Norman Rockwell was a persuasive visual commentator whose realist paintings for popular periodicals inspired belief by millions in the innate goodness of humanity and the achievability of the American dream.  Rockwell also inspired our love of fantasy in ways  that he may not have fully perceived.  His carefully constructed artworks for the Saturday Evening Post […]

Norman Rockwell: Spirit of the Holidays

November 5 through February 20, 2023

Celebrate the holidays with beloved Norman Rockwell images depicting Christmas, New Years, and the winter season.  A special installation of the iconic Stockbridge Main Street panoramic painting together with archival photos of the actual buildings, and a color oil study offer insight into Rockwell’s methodical process in creating a final painting.  The […]

Norman Rockwell: Home for the Holidays

“The commonplaces of America are to me the richest subjects in art.”

Norman Rockwell

Among Norman Rockwell’s best-known illustrations are heartwarming scenes that capture the essence of American holiday traditions celebrated throughout the year-from Valentine’s Day and Independence Day to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the magic of the Christmas season.

Rockwell’s connection to holiday-inspired art can be traced to […]

The Artist’s Process: Norman Rockwell’s Color Studies

Known for his painted magazine covers and illustrations for stories, books, and advertisements, Norman Rockwell was a masterful draftsman and composer who navigated an exacting artistic process that made it possible for him to envision every aspect of a final work before it was begun. By the time a canvas was on his easel, he would […]

Pat Oliphant: Editorial Cartoons from the Nixon and Clinton Eras

February 4 through May 31, 2021

Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Patrick Oliphant was described in 1990 by the New York Times as “the most influential editorial cartoonist” of his time. Spanning more than sixty years, Oliphant’s finely-tuned drawings have cast a clear eye on global politics, culture, the economy, and […]

Norman Rockwell: Telling Stories

February 4 – June 5, 2022

“Many illustrators of fiction look through a story to find the most dominant or dramatic incident, and illustrate that. I prefer to discover the atmosphere of a story—the feeling behind it—and then to express this basic quality.”

—Norman Rockwell

Though Norman Rockwell preferred cover work to […]

Norman Rockwell: The Art of Persuasion

“No matter how beautiful an advertising picture may be, if it does not sell the product which it advertises, it is a failure.”

—Norman Rockwell

While taking classes at New York’s Art Students League in 1911 and 1912, Rockwell made a pact with his classmates “never to do advertising jobs,” which they considered more commercial than magazine illustration.  But […]

Norman Rockwell: Covering the Post

Like most illustrators, Norman Rockwell worked within the realm of aesthetics, commerce, and technology. An astute visual storyteller and a masterful painter with a distinct, personal message to convey, Rockwell constructed fictional realities that offered a compelling picture of the life that many Americans aspired to. Anxiously awaited by an enthusiastic public, his seamless narratives assured audience engagement with the […]

Liza Donnelly: Comic Relief

Liza Donnelly
Love in the Time of Social Distancing, March 2020
Ink and watercolor on paper
Collection of the artist

In discussing this drawing, Liza Donnelly said: “Our globe is experiencing a terrible pandemic, one that is killing thousands of people of every gender, race, class, and religion. As a cartoonist, it is […]

Rose O’Neill: Artist & Suffragette

Kewpies in the lap of Learning [detail], 1916
Story illustration for Rose O’Neill, “The Kewpies and the College,”
Good Housekeeping, October 1916
Pen and ink on paper
Collection of Norman Rockwell Museum
Gift of The Rose O’Neill Foundation, NRM.2018.12.16

About the Exhibition

Rose O’Neill: Artist & Suffragette is a special permanent […]

Burton Silverman: In Search of the Constitution

Saturday, September 15, 1787, 1987
Book illustration for Moyers; Report from Philadelphia, The Constitutional Convention of 1787 by Bill Moyers, Ballantine Books, November 1987
Pastel and pencil on tonal paper
Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Museum purchase with funds from the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation and Wendy and Stephen Shalen, NRM.2019.23.38

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

In 1964, after The Problem We All Live With ran in Look magazine, Norman Rockwell received many letters criticizing his choice of subject, but irate opinions did not stop him from pursuing his course. In the 1965 painting Murder in Mississippi, he illustrated the Philadelphia, Mississippi, slaying of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The anatomy of this particular work illuminates Rockwell’s process. Veering from his habit of working on five or six projects at a time, Rockwell ignored other commissions. The result was an intensive five-week session in which he produced charcoal preliminaries, an oil color study, and the large final painting.

This exhibition takes a lively look at Rockwell’s approach to painting women and girls. According to Rockwell, “…I paint the kind of girls your mother would want you to marry,” but in fact, many of his female protagonist were strong and saavy. In his early career, he hired professional female models to pose for him, painting with a narrative realism that made his characters relatable to magazine’s target audience, women. Later, his neighbors, friends, and family members became the subjects of his work, and his images sprang to life with genuine smiles. animated expressions. and more naturalistic rendering.

Norman Rockwell’s art often contain comforting scenes of Americans enjoying the outdoors. Though he was born and raised in New York City, Rockwell showed a fondness for spending time outside.

FINDING HOME: FOUR ARTISTS’ JOURNEYS

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

What defines home? The circuitous pathways to finding a place of one’s own […]

A humanist and close observer of the world around him, it is perhaps no surprise that working Americans across a broad range of employment sectors were a focus of Rockwell’s art - from education, health care, and law enforcement to agriculture and essential trades. A sense of longing, desire, and humor are entwined in the artist’s wishful images of hardworking people, who seek to do their best and sometimes dream of something more.

The 35th Annual Berkshire County High School Art Show

On View February 1 through March 7

Celebrate the creative talent on display from Berkshire County high schools. Original works in all media—from painting and drawing to photography, ceramics, three-dimensional assemblage, and digital art—will be on view. See the list below for participating schools.

We welcome exhibiting students and their families to visit the Museum with free admission […]

The Spirit of Giving Illustrated

November 16, 2019 through February 17, 2020

This holiday season, classic Rockwell artworks from our permanent collection will feature his 1923 Christmas Trio, a bundled-up group of Dickensian carolers and musicians giving the gift of music, and Christmas Homecoming, a festive family scene brimming with smiles, will be joined by never-before-exhibited […]

Highlights from the Permanent Collection – Hi, I’m Norman: The Story of American Illustrator Norman Rockwell

September 27, 2019 through December 9, 2019

This exhibition highlights artwork for Hi, I’m Norman: The Story of American Illustrator Norman Rockwell , an artist’s biography for young people,
written by Robert Burleigh and Illustrated by Wendell Minor.

Award-winning illustrator Wendell Minor drew his way through childhood in […]

Woodstock to the Moon: 1969 Illustrated

June 8 through October 27, 2019

In celebration of Norman Rockwell Museum’s 50th Anniversary, we look back at the many ways illustrators portrayed news events and reflected popular culture in 1969.  Norman Rockwell’s own work reflected the changing times with his iconic depiction of the moon landing, an album cover he painted for rock musicians, […]

Norman Rockwell: Private Moments for the Masses

June 8 through October 27, 2019

This special 50th Anniversary exhibition offers a behind-the-scenes look at the autobiographical aspects of Rockwell’s art through beloved imagery that conveyed, in both subtle and direct ways, his own interests, anxieties, and real-life experiences.

An astute visual storyteller and a masterful painter with a distinct, personal message to convey, […]

INSPIRED: NORMAN ROCKWELL AND ERIK ERIKSON

June 8 through October 27, 2019

In February 1959, Norman Rockwell appeared on Edward R. Murrow’s celebrity interview show, Person to Person. For decades, Rockwell had painted wholesome scenes of American life, and Murrow interviewed Rockwell at his home in the bucolic small town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. On the program, the artist described how much he and his family loved […]

FRANK SCHOONOVER: AMERICAN VISIONS

November 10, 2018 through May 27, 2019

Frank E. Schoonover’s (1877-1972) legendary adventure paintings were inspired by the belief that artists should live what they paint—an adage often repeated by his noted teacher, illustrator Howard Pyle, and absorbed by his fellow student and friend, N.C. Wyeth. This exhibition will explore the breadth of this important Golden Age […]

THE ART AND WIT OF RUBE GOLDBERG

March 2, 2019 through June 9, 2019

A prolific cartoonist and visionary, Rube Goldberg has become more famous for the inventions bearing his name than for his cartoons and political illustrations. Within his comic strips Goldberg created extremely complex machines that were built to perform a simple task. Beginning in 1912, the hand-drawn diagrams […]

June 9, 2018 through October 28, 2018

Norman Rockwell and the Boy Scouts of America

Special exhibit on view this summer

First hired by the Boy Scouts of America to create a series of pen and ink drawings for The Boy Scout’s Hike Book, Norman Rockwell was appointed art editor of Boys’ Life magazine at the age of nineteen.  In 1916, at the age of twenty-two, Rockwell began his tenure at The Saturday […]

Changing Times: Norman Rockwell’s Art for Look Magazine

CURRENTLY ON VIEW UNTIL MAY 1, 2018

In the 1960’s, leaving behind his beloved story-telling scenes, Norman Rockwell threw […]

Gloria Stoll Karn: Pulp Romance

February 10, 2018 through June 10, 2018

Talented artist Gloria Stoll Karn is recognized for her contributions to the pulp fiction industry during the 1940s, one of very few female illustrators working in the field to create illustrations and covers for popular romance and dime store magazines. This exhibition explore the artist’s short but prolific […]

Emily Bini, “Freedom of Education”, 2017. Mixed media. Grade 9, Guilderland High School. ©Emily Bini. All rights reserved.

Reimagining The Four Freedoms:

Student Artwork from Capital Region
Eastern District, New York

Young Artists Series

March 18 through April 9, 2017

In celebration of the 76th anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech, enjoy this exhibition of original artworks re-imagining the concept and Norman Rockwell’s iconic paintings. Organized by New York’s Capital Area Art Supervisors, […]

Never Abandon Imagination: The Fantastical Art of Tony DiTerlizzi

November 11, 2017 to May 28, 2018

“He stands alone as a creator of worlds and a weaver of tales.”
— Guillermo del Toro

Never Abandon Imagination showcases over 200 paintings and drawings created by Tony DiTerlizzi. Original artworks detail DiTerlizzi’s distinguished career in the role-playing games Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: […]

LEARNING FROM THE MASTERS: THE FAMOUS ARTISTS SCHOOL

July 8 through November 19, 2017

Learning from the Masters: The Famous Artists School offers a lively, inspirational exploration of the creative methods of America’s most highly regarded illustrators, whose influential artworks reached millions on the covers and pages of the nation’s most popular publications. The engaging lessons, sage advice, and creative approaches featured in […]

Gregory Manchess: Above the Timberline

November 10, 2018 through February 24, 2019

Working in the tradition of Frank E. Schoonover and the Golden Age masters, renowned illustrator Gregory Manchess has created a lavishly painted novel about the son of a famed polar explorer searching for his stranded father, and a lost city buried under snow in […]

CULTURAL TRADITIONS: A HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

November 17, 2018 through February 24, 2019
Cultural Traditions: A Holiday Celebration explores the commonality and distinctiveness of peoples and their traditions around the world through the art and stories in children’s picture books. Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the Chinese New Year are celebrated in over 40 original works created by six award-winning children’s book illustrators, highlighting our shared hopes and dreams […]

The 31st Annual Berkshire County High School Art Show

February 4, 2017 through March 4, 2017

Celebrate the creative talent on display from Berkshire County high schools. Original works in all media—from painting and drawing to photography, ceramics, three-dimensional assemblage, and digital art—will be on view. Participating schools include: BART Charter School, Berkshire School, Berkshire Waldorf School, Drury High School, Lee High School, Lenox Memorial High School, […]

First exposed at a young age to the American flagged superliner; SS United States, during his family’s emigration from Great Britain to the United States, Macaulay has returned, years later, to illustrate the ship and it’s builder, William Francis Gibbs, while incorporating his own family’s story into the overarching narrative.

September 10, 2016 through December 4, 2016

Commemorating the 2016 presidential season, Campaigns and Caricatures: The Political Cartoons of Thomas Nast will feature over thirty editorial cartoons by the “Father of the American Cartoon,” published by the provocative Harper’s Weekly between 1864 and 1884.

Norman Rockwell’s Spirit of the Holidays

About the Exhibition

November 22, 2016 through January 29, 2017
at Norman Rockwell Museum

. . .children want to believe in Santa Claus just as fervently as we adults want to believe in Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. —Norman Rockwell

Many of Rockwell’s depictions of the holidays are inspired by the work of […]

February 6, 2016 through March 6, 2016

A lively and diverse exhibition of original works by Berkshire County high school art students celebrating the region’s talented youth will be on view.

November 4, 2015 through January 8, 2016

During the holiday season, Norman Rockwell’s anxiously awaited illustrations brought good cheer to millions of Americans who encountered his images on the covers and pages of their favorite magazines, and on holiday cards that brought the spirit of the holidays home...

November 7, 2015 EXTENDED to January 10^th, 2016

This special exhibition honors the sacrifices of veterans, calling attention to the struggles that many face upon their re-entry into civilian life. “Who stands ready to take care of those men and women upon their return when they are all too often disabled, disillusioned, or disheartened?”...

March 19, 2016 through June 19, 2016

This lively installation that brings to light the art of one of America’s original “Mad Men” explores the life and times of McCauley (“Mac”) Conner (born 1913), who grew up admiring Norman Rockwell magazine covers in his father’s general store.

Jerry Pinkney: Imaginings

An Artist’s Exploration of Images and Words

About the Exhibition

Across his fifty-year journey as an illustrator, Jerry Pinkney has cast a warm, curious eye on our world to create transcendent images that reflect his passion for life, his love of family and community, and his deep and abiding […]