In 1916, 22 year old Norman Rockwell published his first The Saturday Evening Post cover, a commission considered to be the pinnacle of achievement for an illustrator. During their very first meeting, George Horace Lorimer, editor of The Saturday Evening Post, agreed to use two finished paintings and approved three sketches for future use. This defining moment set the stage for a 47 year professional alliance that nurtured the creation of 400 of the world’s most beloved art images.
Rockwell’s masterful illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post (322 covers and dozens of story illustrations) represented a simpler time in America’s history, a time of good family values and honest, homespun virtues. Today, these images are visual touchstones that transport us to familiar places in the heart.
For nearly half a century, Rockwell’s paintings mirrored the American experience. He painted this country and its people with unabashed frankness and poignancy, giving us a living chronicle of our dreams, our aspirations and ourselves.
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