Norman Rockwell: American Art Series

Perhaps more than any other contemporary artist Norman Rockwell enjoys popular mass appeal with his warm scenes of Americana. His Saturday Evening Post covers, which he created for more than four decades, enchanted a generation, as he painted his particular visions of daily life. His work bespeaks timeless values and tolerance, so much so that one of his ads was borrowed by an AIDS activist group to promote safe-sex awareness. What would Rockwell himself have thought of this? His son, Tom, said, "One of the things my father was associated with was tolerance. So I think it's fairly easy to know what he would have said."

The work shows important illustrations for the Saturday EveningPost, his wedding and the Art Director's Club. Famous illustrations; such as, the New Tavern Sign are depicted.Anillustration of "A Family Tree" is presented in full colortogether with other famous renditions of the artist. The Spiritof Education and the Airplane Trip are presented in full color.These were famous presentations in the Saturday Evening Post ofthe 1930s. There is a famous Christmas illustration from 1929and the "Dreams of Chivalry". The famous "Golden Rule" ispresented together with "The Prom Dress" and "The Outing".This is an important work for ownership by anyone interestedin the modern artwork of the previous century.

I thought this book of Norman Rockwell's work was a fascinatining look into the typical/almost idealistic life of everyday embarrassing/comical/poignant situations which do commonly occur. The picture I enjoyed the most was "The Gossips" where upon I could imagine the tale behind the laughter and enjoy looking at the different facial expressions and that there was such a great twist to the tale. Thank you for such a great book!.

The book is small, but the illustrations still are reproduced extremely well. The essay alone is worth every penny. If you feel uneasy about your love for the work of Norman Rockwell, this book will give you the courage to like what you really like, without any more appologies. Buy it, read it, enjoy. You will, I guarantee.