As I thought about which artist to research and write about, Norman Rockwell

immediately came to mind. My mother is an artist and I remember her always admiring his
paintings and drawings. She even had a coffee book about him and his paintings. I always
looked at his paintings and loved his uniqueness and how I could quickly distinguish his
paintings from other artists. Since his paintings inspired my mother and I so much I thought I
would take this opportunity to learn more about Norman Rockwell and his life.
Norman Rockwell was born in New York City on February 3, 1894/ Norman and his
family lived on the fifth floor of a small New York apartment building. Jarvis Waring Rockwell,
his father, was a quiet but stern man. He was very strict and treated his two sons as if they were
adults rather than children. Jarvis did well for himself by working at a textile company.
Normans mother, Nancy Hill was a homemaker who was sick in bed most of the time while the
children were growing up. Their home was usually run with high expectations and quiet.
The New York neighborhood the Rockwells were raised was a sketchy part of town and
had street gangs. Although the neighborhood was intense, children from the apartment would
still play games in the streets. Normans older brother Jarvis was an athlete and was definitely
more popular with the neighborhood children than Norman was. Norman was clumsy and he had
a medical condition where his feet turned in. The doctors ended up forcing him to wear heavy
shoes to try and correct his feet to point forward rather inward. Not only was Norman clumsy but
he also was gangly looking with skinny long arms, an Adams apple that protruded out more

than others. He was also very pale and his own mother gave him the nickname, Snow in the
Face.
Although, he had a poor self image and wasnt athletic like his older brother, he loved to
draw and he was really good at it from a very young age. Norman started drawing since he was
about four years old. Norman would watch his father sketch copies of pictures from magazines.
Soon Norman started to draw with his father at the dining table and loved it. When he was in
eighth grade his teacher allowed him to decorate the chalkboards with his drawings, everyone
was in awe. The praise he received from his teacher and his classmates gave him the confidence
to work towards his goal as an artist.
Norman decided to work part-time jobs to save money for an art school in New York
City. He delivered mail and also taught people to sketch and even taught a future actress Ethel
Barrymore. Not only did he work part time jobs he also was an extra in some performances at
the Metropolitan Opera. When he was fourteen-years-old, Rockwell enrolled into an art class at
The New York School of Art also known as the Chase School of Fine and Applied Art.
Norman eventually decided that he did not have enough time for high school, art classes,
and work so he decided to drop out of high school. He ended up entering the National Academy
of Design in New York and took his artist career very seriously at such a young age. Later he
would switch to another school to the Art Students League. Over the next three years he decided
he wanted to become an illustrator. Norman Rockwells first illustrating job was for a book
called, Tell Me Why Stories he was paid $150 for twelve pictures. Then he drew pictures for a
handbook Boys Life a Boy Scout Magazine. The editor was so impressed with Rockwells
illustrations he ended up making him the magazines art director, he was only nineteen years old.

Over the next sixty years, Rockwell continued to paint the covers for almost every Boy Scout
calendar.
.

Rockwell also did some illustrations for advertising companies throughout his career. He

painted ads for toothpaste, cereal, soda and cough medicine. This is how Rockwell made a living
and he received a lot of money for these ads. Although he was very successful with his paintings,
Rockwell he wasnt fully satisfied because he had not yet been chosen for the Saturday Evening
Post, this was a very famous international magazine. Norman ended up landing two different
paintings for the magazine and the magazine asked for three more from him. At that point he felt
he had made it in his career.
Norman Rockwell enjoyed doing illustrations on ordinary people who were not special
and someone you would see every day. He loved using neighborhood kids as his models and
wanted his models to look realistic with their flaws added to show the vulnerability of the piece.
Rockwell enjoyed drawing pictures that had a story line behind it and sometimes like to add
humor to his illustrations to be unique and bring his personality out in his paintings.
Norman Rockwell had a very successful life and a career that he had dreamt about since
he was a little child. Although his career was successful his personal life had its ups and downs.
Rockwell married a lady named Irene OConnor in 1916 and later divorced her in 1929. The
following year he met a school teacher named Mary Barstow and ended up marrying her. They
had three sons named Jarvis, Thomas, and Peter and lived in Arlington, Vermont.
Norman Rockwell has been called the most famous and beloved painter in the world. His
paintings of ordinary people doing ordinary things stole the hearts of America and told their
story well. Month after months and year after year his paintings were seen by millions of people.

Rockwell died on November 8, 1978 his last picture he was drawing was sitting on his easel
when he passed away. Although he has passed his paintings and his legend live on. I think Ive
always wanted to be an artist, I certainly cant remember ever wanting to be something else.
-Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwells Triple Self Portrait is an oil on canvas 44 x 34 . It was a cover
illustration for the Saturday Evening Post on February 13, 1960. I chose this painting because in
my opinion it resembled what I learned in this class about self portraits and how hard they really
are. Norman Rockwell made it look so easy and I loved that he did a different take on a self
portrait. The piece was inspiring to me while I drew my self portrait.
In this piece of art it shows the back of his head as he paints, it also shows his face in the
mirror, canvas and four more times on a piece of paper next to the canvas. The faces in the
painting all resemble one another well enough that you cannot even tell the difference from one
to another. The four drawings of his face on the small paper are there as if they were his practice
sheets. I think this shows how he could be somewhat of a perfectionist because he drew his
portrait four times before he drew the actual portrait. It can also show his audience his
vulnerability, that he doesnt always get it right on the first time and I truly appreciate that. I
sometimes get discouraged with myself and my drawings and not being able to do draw correctly
on the first time, but this drawing reminds me that even famous illustrators take time to make
their masterpiece.
To the right of his canvas in his drawing there are four paintings by other infamous artists
that Rockwell obviously idolized because he wanted to incorporate them into his drawing. The
artists he decided to put into his picture almost as a way to show his admiration and respect for

them are; Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Van Gogh and Picasso. Another detail I noticed
in the painting was the modern art piece by Picasso, because Rockwell had a brief experimental
period with modern art around 1923.
The piece itself has a total of six self portraits, the one on the canvas is the largest and I
personally felt was the focal point of the painting because it caught my eye immediately. The
composition in this piece is very creative with the placement of his mirror, easel, chair, brass
bucket and where he is sitting. The placement creates the negative and positive shapes and brings
the piece together as well.
The line quality has resemblance of all qualities. The self portrait is a more pure line
and the rest of the painting is mixed with bold and lost and found. I cant see much broken
line quality in this painting. The value in this painting is more of a high value, lighter tones;
the only parts that are low are the socks, coke and part of the easel. Most of the painting is
actually really white for instance the paper, background and the mirror.

Report on Norman Rockwell

By: Parker Jones

Intro to Drawing Art -1020-012
Professor Chase McCleary

Bibliography

50 Norman Rockwell Favorites by Christopher Finch

Artist Biographies Norman Rockwell by Jennifer Rozines Roy and Gregory Roy
NRM.org