Norman Rockwell is one of the most popular American artists of the 20th century and a beloved local hero of the Berkshires. In all, he created over 4,000 studies and final works of art for stories, advertising campaigns, posters, calendars, and books, many of them during the last twenty-five years of his life spent at his studio in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Rockwell’s greatest legacy is his 47-year contribution of 321 works to the covers of the Saturday Evening Post, one of the most reputable periodicals of its time. While he referred to himself as an illustrator, his almost photographic attention to detail ranks him with the masters of realist art. He was commissioned to paint the portraits of many world leaders, including Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Jawaharlal Nehru of India. In 1977, President Gerald R. Ford presented Rockwell with the country’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his “vivid and affectionate portraits of our country.” The residents and locales of Stockbridge are eternally woven into these classic depictions of rural America, and the town proudly celebrates Mr. Rockwell’s legacy.
In 1973, Rockwell established a trust to preserve his artistic legacy by placing his works in the custodianship of the Old Corner House Stockbridge Historical Society, later to become the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge. In 1976, he arranged to have his studio and its contents added to the trust. Norman Rockwell died peacefully at his home in Stockbridge on November 8, 1978, at the age of 84.
