What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine
June 8, 2024 through October 27, 2024
This exhibition explores the unforgettable art and satire of MAD, from its beginnings in 1952 as a popular humor comic book to its emergence as a beloved magazine that spoke truth to power and attracted generations of devoted readers through the decades. MAD’s influence and cultural impact will […]
Unity Project: VOTE 2024
September 4 through November 8, 2024
Much as Norman Rockwell’s work was influential in bringing the country together at pivotal times, NRM’s Unity Project campaigns are a collaboration with artists and organizations to advance initiatives that make the world a better place.
The Unity Project calls upon all Americans to uphold democracy by voting. This dynamic digital poster campaign aims to inspire citizens to
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 […]
Opening June 11, 2022, Imprinted: Illustrating Race examines the role of published images in shaping attitudes toward race and culture. More than 100 works of art and artifacts of widely circulated illustrated imagery will be on view, produced from the late eighteenth century to today, which have an impact on public perception about race in the United States. The exhibition will explore stereotypical racial representations that have been imprinted upon us through the mass publication of images. It culminates with the creative accomplishments of contemporary artists and publishers who have shifted the cultural narrative through the creation of positive, inclusive imagery emphasizing full agency and equity for all.
Nora Krug: Belonging
Award-winning artist Nora Krug’s powerful graphic memoir, Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home, and her most recent book publication, an illustrated edition of Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, will be the focus of an exhibition at Norman Rockwell Museum from March 18 through June 18, 2023. Each book takes inspiration from the artist’s personal experiences as […]
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:
Eloise and More: The Life and Art of Hilary Knight
Best known for his iconic illustrations of Eloise in the books by Kay Thompson, Hilary Knight has been creating art for seven decades. Influenced by his artistic parents, whose work will be on view in this exhibition, Knight’s first drawings were featured in 1952 in magazines such as Gourmet and Mademoiselle. Two years […]
Norman Rockwell: Cover Artist
Dreaming up ideas for magazine covers and putting them to canvas was Norman Rockwell’s true passion. Although he painted Boy Scout calendars for most of his life, in addition to countless advertisements and story illustrations, magazine cover assignments gave Rockwell the freedom to create images that have come to symbolize American life in the early twentieth century.
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, […]
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.
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 […]
Jan Brett: Stories Near and Far
With over forty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation’s foremost and most widely read author/illustrators for children. This lively exhibition explores the breadth of Brett’s art and the travel experiences that have inspired her many children’s books and characters. Favorite stories, from Gingerbread Friends, The Umbrella, and Honey…Honey to her most recent published […]
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 […]
Enchanted: A History of Fantasy Illustration
June 12 through October 31, 2021
Fictional worlds of magic and adventure come to life through fantasy illustration. Myths, legends, fables, romance, and epic battles involving swords and sorcery occur in a world unfamiliar to us. Unlike science fiction, which is based on fact, fantasy presents an imaginative reality built on universal themes—heroes defeating […]
Land of Enchantment Map
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Artists
Artists showcased in the exhibition include: Peter Barrett, Sean Bixby, Jessica Bradsher, Ursula Clark, Erika Crofut, Kaya Deckelbaum, John Elling, Laurie Goodhart, Gints Grinbergs, Harold Grinspoon, Kathie Gatto Gurney, Erik Johnsen, Stephen Klema, Betsy Koscher, Beckie Kravetz, Kent Mikalsen, Robert Markey, Angelo & Jesse Sinisi, Lisa M and Christian N Donnini and St. Pierre, Darla Jackson and Paul Romano, Chip and Elizabeth Sullivan, […]
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 […]
Pops Peterson: Rockwell Revisited
October 17, 2020 through May 31, 2021
In 2015, Berkshire-based artist and writer Pops Peterson debuted Reinventing Rockwell, a series of artworks reimagining mid-century illustrations by Norman Rockwell in a manner reflective of today’s times. Celebrating America’s rich diversity and embracing Rockwell’s sense of humanity, Peterson has created images that envision social change and express his desire for a positive, inclusive, and […]
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.
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.
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 power of images to shape cultural narratives is revealed in Norman Rockwell: Imagining Freedom, an exhibition that explores the legacy of the Four Freedoms as inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt and portrayed by Norman Rockwell. Tracing the Four Freedoms journey from World War II to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the call for freedom today, the exhibition inspires fresh consideration of our most pressing social concerns through the lenses of art and history, inviting us to consider how we can become allies in the creation of a more humane world.
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
April 27 through October 27, 2019
From its humble beginnings in the historic Old Corner House in downtown Stockbridge in 1969, the Norman Rockwell Museum has grown into a vital center which informs the public of Norman Rockwell’s life and career while showcasing the history of American illustration through its ever-growing collection of work by Rockwell and […]
June 9, 2018 through October 28, 2018
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 […]
In the 1960’s, leaving behind his beloved story-telling scenes, Norman Rockwell threw […]
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 […]
Hanna-Barbera: The Architects of Saturday Morning is the first museum exhibition on the world’s most successful animation partnership.
Emily Bini, “Freedom of Education”, 2017. Mixed media. Grade 9, Guilderland High School. ©Emily Bini. All rights reserved.
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, […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
On view through October 12, 2015
Join us this summer for a redesign of our galleries, using themes prevalent throughout Norman Rockwell's career in illustration: heroes, humor, and growing up. We also detail step-by-step the process Rockwell used to create some of his most famous paintings, including "The Gossips" and "Art Critic." Props, photographs of models, studies, sketches, and the final paintings and related "Saturday Evening Post" covers are on display.
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 10th, 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.
May 14, 2016 through October 30, 2016
This celebration of the centenary of Norman Rockwell Museum’s first Saturday Evening Post cover, Boy with Baby Carriage, published on May 16, 1916, will provide inspiration for exciting new works in diverse media by contemporary artists...
Jerry Pinkney: Imaginings
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 […]