The National Museum of American Illustration
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NMAI RECEIVES MAJOR GIFT OF NORMAN ROCKWELL
MASTERPIECE
The National Museum of American Illustration has been
recently gifted a significant painting by America’s most
beloved illustrator, Norman Rockwell. Gifted by a private
collector, The Choirboy
was first
published as a cover for
the
Saturday Evening Post on April 17, 1954. “This is
by far the
most significant gift to the Museum in our 7-year history,”
says Laurence Cutler, Chairman and co-founder. “The NMAI is
rapidly becoming acknowledged as a major destination for
Norman Rockwell fans. This gift is most affirming to our
Museum’s mission, and our efforts to date”. The gift comes
on the heels of the Sotheby’s American Paintings
auction, in
which Rockwell’s painting Breaking Home Ties
fetched $15.4 million, a record price for the artist.
Image above left: NORMAN ROCKWELL (1894-1978)
THE CHOIRBOY
1954, oil on canvas, Saturday Evening Post, April 17,
1954
The subject of youth was one of Norman Rockwell's favorite
themes throughout his long tenure as the Saturday
Evening Post's most popular cover artist. More than half
of his 1950’s
covers featured children, and Rockwell made numerous
references to his own childhood in his paintings, as illustrated
in The Choirboy. Recalling his days in the church
choir, Rockwell wrote, "On Sundays in the choir room we
roughhoused and shouted and wrestled while donning our
cassocks and surplices. The Sexton, poking his head around
the door, would yell that it was time for us to enter the
church. Plastering down our cowlicks, pushing, jostling, we'd
form two lines. Then, suddenly, we'd grow quiet and,
solemn-faced, march into the church." (The Norman Rockwell
Album, p. 140)
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Rockwell uses a paneled archway to frame the setting, and
through it we glimpse at the proof of last-minute
preparations
in the scattered clothing, sneakers, and abandoned roller
skates. Such "behind-the-scenes" treatment appears
throughout Rockwell's Post covers, a vantage point
which
allowed him to show the human side of his protagonists with
humor and compassion. Rockwell's Pittsfield neighbor Tom
Chappell posed for The Choirboy, his "boy-next-
door" appeal embodied in his rumpled striped socks, worn-
out shoes, and earnest expression. Chappell typifies the kind
of model that Rockwell sought out among family, friends and
neighbors.
On loan to the Museum since last year, the painting is
exhibited in Vernon Court’s Petit Salon Gallery where it hangs
with other Saturday Evening Post covers by
Rockwell. Here in the Petit Salon, visitors and scholars are
able to compare examples of his cover illustration work from
the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s; this image represents
Rockwell’s work from the 1950’s. This gift fills a significant
role in the Museum’s current exhibition, as Norman Rockwell
is so strongly associated with the Saturday Evening
Post in most people’s minds.
The NMAI will be participating in the New York
Times, 2007 Arts & Leisure Weekend. The Museum
and Museum Shop will be open Friday, January 5 from 10AM
to 4PM, Saturday, January 6 from 10AM to 3PM and Sunday,
January 7 from 10AM to 3PM for self guided tours with
buy one get one free admission. Tickets are $25,
Seniors 60+ and military with id, $22, Children 12 and
under are not admitted.
If you are unable to join us for the up-coming Arts &
Leisure Weekend and you would like to visit during the
2007 winter season, please call 401-851-8949 ext. 18 well in
advance to possibly be included in a prescheduled group tour
Please consider a gift to the NMAI to further support our efforts
at preserving these artifacts of American Culture in perpetuity.
Contact: Lee Ann Scotto T:401-851-8949 x 31, or Email:
lascotto@americanillustration.org. The NMAI is administered by
the American Civilization Foundation, a non-profit 501 (c) (3)
organization.
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Lee Ann Scotto, Assistant to the Director, The
National Museum of American Illustration, Vernon Court, 492
Bellevue
Avenue,
Newport, RI 02840.
T: 401-851-8949 ext.31
F: 401-851-8974
Email:lascotto@americanillustration.org
Web:www.americanillustration.org
The National Museum of American Illustration is a nonprofit
independent, educational, and aesthetic organization. It is
located in Newport, RI on Bellevue Avenue at Vernon Court
(1898), a Beaux-Arts adaptation of an 18th century French
chateau by architects Carrere & Hastings.
It is the first national museum devoted exclusively to
American illustration art.
Illustration consists of original artwork created to be
reproduced in books, magazines, newspapers and
advertisements. ‘Golden Age’ paintings by such luminaries as
Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, NC Wyeth, and 75 others
are displayed in ‘Gilded Age’ architecture, creating a unique
union of art and architecture- a national treasure.
The Museum is administered by the American Civilization
Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the goal to present
the best possible venue for appreciating the greatest
collection of illustration art; the most American of American
art.
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or its contents, in any medium, is strictly prohibited.
©2006 National Museum of American Illustration
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