Akron Art Museum hosts 'The Art of Norman Rockwell'

Sunday, 04 November 2007 10:44

Akron, Ohio - A major traveling exhibition of works by iconic American artist Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) opens at the Akron Art Museum on November 10, 2007. Following its premiere in Akron, the exhibition will tour nationally. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell celebrates the full range of Rockwell’s artwork, including rarely circulated works from the collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Included in the presentation are all of the hundreds of covers Rockwell created for the Saturday Evening Post over nearly five decades, original oil paintings of some of his most famous illustrations, drawings, war bond posters and other works. In addition to the artworks on view, personal correspondence and archival photographs offer insight into one of the country’s most beloved illustrators. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell the exhibition, which is the first traveling exhibition in the museum’s new galleries, will be on view through February 3, 2008. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell is organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Norman Rockwell created some 4,000 works during his lifetime. From touching scenes of everyday life—children at play, families gathered for holiday scenes—to powerful images documenting the American Civil Rights movement and reflections on a world at war, Rockwell captured the American experience through his images, many of them now icons of American culture.

“The goal of our expansion was to broaden and enrich our programming and to be able to offer art experiences that were beyond the capacity of our old facility,” said Mitchell Kahan, director and chief executive officer of the Akron Art Museum. “By increasing exhibition spaces and creating flexible new galleries, we can bring important large-scale traveling exhibitions—such as American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell—to our city and our state. We look forward to sharing with the public this wonderful exhibition of works by one of the nation’s most beloved artists and to welcoming visitors to all of the great new programs in the new Akron Art Museum.”

Norman Rockwell’s artwork documented American life through nearly six decades, capturing the imagination of millions through meticulously crafted scenes ranging from depictions of childhood innocence and nostalgic images of the American family, to commanding images reflecting the tensions of foreign conflicts and portrayals of pressing social and political issues closer to home. Rockwell is perhaps best known for the images he created for the cover of Saturday Evening Post, a prominent weekly news and culture magazine published from 1821 to 1969. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell includes 29 original oil paintings created for the Post, as well as tear sheets of more than 320 covers the prolific artist created during his long career with the magazine. Among the Post covers are some of Rockwell’s most recognizable images, such as the May 29, 1943 cover depicting his version of “Rosie” the Riveter, a tribute to the six million women who worked in manufacturing plants during the war and has since become an inspiration to generations of women. Another frequently reproduced image is Breaking Home Ties (September 25, 1954), the touching image of a young man preparing to depart for college, accompanied by his father, who nervously anticipates his son’s departure from home.

In 1963, following his time with the Saturday Evening Post, Rockwell began to work for Look magazine where he developed compositions that addressed the challenges of the post-war era—poverty, political unrest and racial segregation in the South. His poignant painting The Problem We All Live With, which addresses the desegregation of America’s public schools, is a centerpiece of the exhibition at the Akron Art Museum. The famous painting depicts the brave journey of a 6-year-old African American schoolgirl into an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960. Rockwell’s 1943 war bond posters illustrating President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms”—Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Worship—are also included in the exhibition.

Photographs of Rockwell and a selection of his personal correspondence provide additional insight into the artist’s life and work, as do some of his self-referential works that address the demanding process of completing images for publications, such as Artist Facing a Blank Canvas (Deadline) and Triple Self-Portrait, the original canvases of which are on view.

Publication support has been provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Media sponsorship has been provided by the Curtis Publishing Company and by the Norman Rockwell Licensing Company.

Following its presentation in Akron, the exhibition will travel to the Orlando Museum of Art, Florida (March 1, 2008 through May 26, 2008); the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia (November 8, 2008 through February 1, 2009); and the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (November 14, 2009 through February 7, 2010). Additional venues will be announced shortly.

Norman Rockwell
Born in New York City in 1894, Norman Rockwell studied art at the New York School of Art, the National Academy of Design in New York and the Art Students League, where an education in illustration prepared Rockwell for his first commercial commissions. Early success led to Rockwell’s position as art director of Boys’ Life magazine and launched a six decade long career as an illustrator for magazines. In 1916, Rockwell painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post and over the next 47 years more than 320 of his compositions graced the publication’s cover. In 1963 Rockwell left the publication to create covers for Look magazine. During his 10-year association with Look, Rockwell’s works addressed some of his deepest social and political concerns and interests including civil rights, the nation’s war on poverty and the exploration of space. In 1973, Rockwell established a trust to preserve his life’s work, placing his paintings in the custodianship of the Old Corner House Stockbridge Historical Society, which would later become the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge. In 1977, the year before his death, Rockwell received the Presidential Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

About the Akron Art Museum
The Akron Art Museum opened in 1922 as the Akron Art Institute, a general museum for art and education, in Akron’s public library. From its earliest years the museum presented both the fine and applied arts. The museum occupied several different buildings in Akron during its first 50 years and for two decades operated as a formal school of art in addition to a museum. In the 1970s, the institution focused its mission on the collection, preservation and presentation of works of art from 1850 to the present, with particular emphasis on painting, sculpture and photography. In 1981, the Institute moved into its current home and changed its name to the Akron Art Museum to better reflect its role as a collecting institution. The museum’s permanent collection houses over 3,700 objects. Particular areas of strength include American painting and sculpture since 1960, 20^th-century American and international photography and American impressionist and tonalist paintings. The museum’s Martha Stecher Reed Library houses over 10,000 titles supporting the research and teaching goals of the museum. The museum occupies 3.2 acres in downtown Akron. Visit : www.AkronArtMuseum.org