NEWS

Toronto-based Anita Kunz has employed a distinct contemporary classical style of painting to create some caustic caricature and satire of the late 20th and 21st centuries (though to see her, you wouldn’t know she’s been working as long as she has). Her assignments as an editorial illustrator, however, like many of her generation, have not been consistent. So, she’s turned inward and outward to find inspiration for current projects.

Stockbridge, MA – October 10, 2024 – Norman Rockwell Museum (NRM) is pleased to announce several key appointments to its staff and Board of Directors, enhancing the Museum’s commitment to illuminating the power of American illustration art. "We are thrilled to welcome these talented and arts-forward individuals to our Board and team," said Director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt. "Their diverse backgrounds and their innate passion for bringing together art narratives and creative equity will advance and enhance our mission." Board Members Katherine Bergeron and Randy Grimmett, and staff members Russell Lord, Cody Baffuto, and Riley Andersen join a vibrant community dedicated to preserving the original art of America’s best-loved artist and serve as caretakers of a unique cultural legacy.

Nestled the rolling hills of rural Massachusetts, swathed by manicured grounds, sits the Norman Rockwell Museum. And there, side-by-side with the wholesome works of America's most beloved illustrator, is the world's dumbest cover boy: Alfred E. Neuman. "It's sacrilegious! It's an outrage!" laughed political cartoonist Steve Brodner. "But I do think if Norman Rockwell were here, he'd laugh his head off. He'd think this was fantastic." These hallowed halls are now home to the world's largest exhibit of artwork from Mad Magazine, co-curated by Brodner. "I was formed by Mad," he said. "My idea of comedy, humor, irreverent drawing comes from this."

“Every country used poster art historically to motivate engagement in one way or another,” says Laurie Norton-Moffat, CEO/executive director of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. As get-out-the-vote activity is reaching fever pitch, the Norman Rockwell Museum has launched the Unity Project 2024, a digital campaign using the power of illustration to foster civic engagement and participation through art.

STOCKBRIDGE, MA – September 17 – In March 1976, a great American portrait debuted to an adoring public. It was a bicentennial appreciation of George Washington … of a sort. Inspired by The Athenaeum Portrait, Gilbert Stuart’s 1796 painting featured on the one-dollar bill, this rendering of the first president featured one distinction. The original showed Washington with swollen, tightly closed lips due to a new set of ill- fitting dentures, while the 1976 version had a gap-toothed smirk instantly recognizable to America’s middle school reprobates. Equally recognizable was the blank stare that those same kids knew evoked the iconic question: “What, Me Worry?”

STOCKBRIDGE, MA — September 5, 2024– Norman Rockwell has a cherished place in the American imagination. So does MAD magazine. That Rockwell and MAD are as different as a Windsor chair and a whoopee cushion makes their unexpected interaction all the more fun. That interaction takes the form of “What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine,” which runs at the Norman Rockwell Museum through Oct. 27. Five ebulliently overstuffed galleries offer MAD layouts, drawings, toys, videos, back issues, board games, copies of foreign editions. It’s a horn of plenty of laughs. “What Me, Worry” is the (very) rare museum show in which visitors’ laughter is audible.