Pictures for the American People

Happy birthday to beloved American artist and illustrator, Norman Rockwell, who was born this day in 1894. His cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post delighted readers for almost a half-century.

"By the time he died in 1978, Rockwell occupied a place somewhere between Vermeer and Disney, a hard spot to locate, much less evaluate. But whatever else he was, Rockwell was the road not traveled. You go through this show wondering what 20th century art might have been like if it had not been so quick to put aside anecdote, draftsmanship and the raptures of watching paint do its dead-on imitations of other stuff. In short, what it might have been like if it valued more what Rockwell did. Given the essential places where painting had to go, places where Rockwell couldn't follow, maybe art had to put those things aside. But his best pictures remind you of the powers it gave up as a consequence. It may be true that Rockwell did nothing to advance art history. But what he did, in his humble way, was humble it."

Source: Richard Lacayo, Time, December 6, 1999 reviewing "Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People," an exhibition organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum and the High Museum.

Pictured: Norman Rockwell (1894–1978), Homecoming,1924, oil, 23 3/4 x 19 3/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Partial and promised gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Hollander.