STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.- The Lincoln Memorial Illustrated exhibition at Norman Rockwell Museum celebrates the Memorial’s Centennial in May 2022 and will be on view through September 5, 2022. Created in collaboration with Chesterwood (the historic summer home and studio of the statue’s famed sculptor Daniel Chester French), the exhibition highlights the work of noted artists who have incorporated the instantly-recognizable icon as a symbolic element.

More than 50 historical and contemporary multi-media artworks showcase and contextualize the Memorial’s cultural significance, including original paintings and illustrations, archival photographs, sculptural elements, artifacts, published ephemera, and a selection of Norman Rockwell’s original and published art featuring Lincoln, and related memorabilia from his own collection. A montage of films incorporating the Memorial — from Logan’s Run to Forest Gump and Planet of the Apes — and a short documentary narrating the story of the Memorial’s construction, offers insights into the monument’s history and prominence in popular culture.

“Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) and Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) were American masters who achieved the highest acclaim in their chosen fields. Both were longtime Stockbridge, MA, residents — French, at the peak of his career, in 1896, purchased an old farmstead in the Berkshires where he established a summer home and studio, and Rockwell spent his last 25 years in town, where he found inspiration for many of his most significant works. Lincoln clearly captivated the imaginations of both artists,” notes Deputy Director/Chief Curator Stephanie Haboush Plunkett “No other statesman appears more frequently in Rockwell’s work than Lincoln, who was featured in eight paintings between 1927 and 1964—an affirmation of his professed belief that Lincoln was the greatest American president.”

Dedicated in May of 1922, the Lincoln Memorial has come to symbolize both the hopes and challenges of our nation, an almost-sacred space for civic expression focusing on race relations and human rights. In 1939, when the Daughters of the American Revolution denied African-American contralto Marian Anderson the right to perform in Constitution Hall, Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes arranged for an Easter Sunday performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, for an in-person audience of 75,000 and many more on nationwide radio. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, a pinnacle of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and of the civil rights movement, invoked Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to inspire national unity. More recently, in 2018, thousands gathered at the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial for the Women’s March, a rally honoring the political power of women and their communities to create societal change.

“The iconic seated figure of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial is notably the crowning achievement of Daniel Chester French’s artistic career. We are pleased to have this opportunity to celebrate the centennial of America’s most beloved monument and work with the outstanding curatorial staff at the Norman Rockwell Museum on this special exhibition,” stated Donna Hassler, Executive Director, Chesterwood.

In popular culture, the Lincoln Memorial’s presence and meaning has made it a significant symbol in countless books, films, and television programs. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes, X-Men, Forrest Gump, and Purge: The Election Year are among the more than 60 films in which it has appeared.

This exhibition is organized by Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, Deputy Director/Chief Curator and Barbara Rundback, Registrar, at the Norman Rockwell Museum, in close collaboration with Donna Hassler, Executive Director, and Dana Pilson, Curatorial Researcher, at Chesterwood. Media sponsorship has been provided by Berkshire Magazine.

Following its close at the Norman Rockwell Museum, the exhibition will travel to the Concord Museum in Concord, MA, where it will be on view from September 22, 2022 to February 26, 2023.