American chronicles. Norman Rockwell (1894 - 1978)
Norman Rockwell has been loved by Americans for his reflection of American culture. He painted the American Dreams better than any other American artist in history. He was born and raised in New York but spent holidays in the countryside and developed an ideal vision of rural life. At the age of 14, he enrolled at the Chase Art School in Manhattan, and later the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. His aim was to become not a painter, but a professional illustrator.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the artist attempted to enlist in the US Navy but was rejected because he was too thin. He put on weight as quickly as possible and was drafted with the task of being a military artist. He did not fight actively but developed his artistic talent at the service. After the war, he opened a studio with a cartoonist friend Clyde Forsythe. He started to draw for significant magazines like “The Saturday Evening Post” where he worked continuously for 47 years, making more than three hundred covers. Rockwell also worked for “Boy’s Life” magazine, as he loved to paint kids. He created a wonderful mythical land where children, their desires, hopes, lives, were the protagonists. He believed that America had to look at the new generation, to build a country which can preserve its innocence and grow proper adults. Rockwell was a prolific artist, producing more than 4,000 original works in his lifetime. He painted not only the magazine covers, but postcards, posters, and book illustrations. His illustration for Tom Sawyer has been the best illustrated book of Mark Twain. Most of his surviving works are in public collections. #normanrockwell #americanchronicles #artgallery #milkyway #artwithoutborders