The Early Works of Norman Rockwell

Skip the waitlist and invest in blue-chip art for the very first time by signing up for Masterworks: www.masterworks.art/historyguy Purchase shares in great masterpieces from artists like Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Andy Warhol, and more. 🎨 See important Masterworks disclosures: www.masterworks.com/cd

My father was an illustrator. Art is very subjective. It either touches you or it doesn’t. Norman Rockwell’s art touches me.

His art was wholesome. Most people publicly despise wholesomeness, but secretly they love it.

I'm British & I love Norman Rockwell's work. What I find poignant is that he depicted an America trying to be the best it could be, & that hopeful, striving-to-be -better America is the one which so many of us beyond your borders once revered.😢

Absolute home run on your depiction of Rockwell! Those who complained that his themes didn't cover the woes of life missed the fact that he was the cure. When we were down, and saw one of his pictorial epics, we smiled, and found healing hope. Instead of fitting into the symphony of misery, he was the guide that shined the light on the path out of disparity, and the solution to our ills was found in the ubiquitous simple joys.

My parents, who both received the Saturday Evening Post at home when these covers were fresh, had a coffee table book filled with reprints of his paintings. I've always enjoyed his work. Still do to this day.

It always felt like you knew the people in a Norman Rockwell painting, and that, to me, is the work of an artist.

I'm sometimes lucky in a good way - I found in an antiques gallery a large full-color print of Rockwell's 'The Runaway', which depicts a young lad seated on a stool at the counter of a diner - the boy has a waltzing matilda bag on a stick, is engaged in a conversation with a police officer seated next to him while the diner cook leans in to listen to their conversation. The officer was in fact a Massachusetts policeman who modeled for Rockwell in this illustration. The print is signed in pencil by Norman Rockwell, it's an "AP" (artist's proof). And it hangs proudly in the kitchen of my home. This episode of The History Guy should be framed and mounted next to it. Thank you for your excellent and always enlightening and engaging episodes - I save 'The History Guy' for when I need to have my thoughts readjusted to what it means to remember.

His illustrations were like emotional snapshots: you knew what had happened just before and knew (or could imagine) what would happen next, based on your own experiences or observations.

Rockwell is deserving of a spot on this channel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Norman Rockwell painted Americana and became Americana himself.

If I were to ever spend a ton of money on a piece of artwork…it would be something by Norman Rockwell. There is some kind of pure sincerity and honesty in his art that I find very relatable. They are both amusingly simple and surprisingly complex…all at the same time. Such is life!

I have a huge Norman Rockwell book that I look through every Thanksgiving. It’s a window into our past.

So much of History is war and struggle. Thanks for this reminder of gentler times. Norman Rockwell and Fred Rodgers, what a team!

It always cracks me up how painters talk about how art is supposed to be expressive but if you express yourself in the wrong way, it's ridiculed as "insufficient." I'm not a big Rockwell fan but I appreciate him following his own vision and not being cowed by the "art" scene

My father, who was quite the artist in his own right, considered Norman Rockwell the best illustrate the had ever witnessed. In his later years, he lived in an apartment within walking distance from a restaurant based “Rockwell’s”, which had reproductions of Norman’s work as murals on the walls. No longer permitted to drive, he would take his daily walk to Rockwell’s for coffee and chats with his friends and the establishment’s owners. Sadly, this eatery in Ottawa, Ontario, was, along with the murals, torn down about 15 years ago.

Outstanding! The thumbnail biography that most of us have been given of Mr. Rockwell has been fleshed out nicely. Thank you, History Guy!

I have always liked Norman Rockwell's work, it's easily recognized and brings a feeling of joy because in my mind his drawings depict a reflection of how life should be and hopefully was for many... Great choice History guy....Thanks

Bravo! As a boy in the 1960# who used Scouting to temporarily escape urban poverty, Norman Rockwell illustrated the best part of my childhood in the pages of my Handbook and the Boys Life covers. His later work that highlighted the civil rights movement opened lots of eyes but he paid a price for it professionally. An outstanding American. A visit to his museum is on my bucket list..

Wonderful episode, The History Guy, it truly is impossible to think about Americana without Rockwells simple truths coming out in his paintings.

I once heard a historian describe Norman Rockwell’s art as; “ He had painted Americans not as they are, but as they wished they were.” This was a great documentary!