BOSTON.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has extended Rockwell and the Shinjin: Celebrating Baseball and the Red Sox through September 22, 2008. The installation features the iconic Norman Rockwell painting The Rookie (The Red Sox Locker Room) (1957, Private Collection), on special loan to the Museum, as well as memorabilia lent by the Red Sox and private collectors, and vintage prints and photographs from the MFA’s own collection. Rockwell and the Shinjin is on view in the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Rotunda on the second floor of the Museum.

The installation pays tribute to Boston’s hometown team, who celebrated the opening of the season with a game in Tokyo. Enthusiastically received during that trip were two of the Red Sox rookies (“shinjin” in Japanese) from the 2007 team, Daisuke Matsuzaka (“Dice-K”) and Hideki Okajima, the first-ever Japanese players to join the Red Sox. Rockwell and the Shinjin also tips its cap to the past by showcasing The Rookie (The Red Sox Locker Room), Rockwell’s classic depiction of seasoned players giving the once-over to the novice on the team. This celebration of America’s favorite summer pastime captures on canvas the Red Sox locker room during spring training in 1957. The painting, which appeared on the cover of the March 2, 1957, Saturday Evening Post, features such veteran players as catcher Sammy White (at lower left of painting); pitcher Frank Sullivan (No. 18), on the bench next to outfielder Jackie Jensen; Ted Williams standing in the center; and infielder Bill Goodman at far right. Figuring prominently in the work, right of center, is “the rookie,” who was actually Sherman Safford, a high school athlete in Pittsfield, MA, asked to model for the painting.

“Rockwell had a gift for capturing the quintessential American experience, and what better example is there than baseball?” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts. “We are proud to have Fenway Park quite literally in our own backyard, which makes this salute to the Red Sox, our Fenway neighbors, all the more fitting.”

Memorabilia from the 2004 and 2007 winning Red Sox teams will be highlighted in two cases in the installation, such as a 2004 World Series Championship ring, bases from both the 2004 and 2007 Series, Matsuzaka and Okajima home jerseys, a pair of “Dice-K’s” cleats lent by the Red Sox player, and baseballs. In addition, the installation features a copy of the March 2, 1957, Saturday Evening Post lent by Sherman Safford (“the rookie”) and two copy prints of him posing for Rockwell’s painting, and a baseball from Frank Sullivan, who will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in November.

To complement The Rookie (The Red Sox Locker Room), two archival photographs by Verner Reed, Fenway Fans (1957, MFA) and Red Sox—Yankees Line-up (1957, MFA), taken the same year as Rockwell created his painting, will be included in the installation. Also on display is a special selection of 19th and 20th -century works on paper, as well photography, which pays tribute to the history of baseball in the United States. Included are a charcoal drawing by William Morris Hunt, Baseball (about 1877, MFA, Boston); a Civil War-era lithograph showing men playing baseball, Union Prisoners at Salisbury (1862–63, MFA); and a photograph by James Dow, Boston Red Sox—Fenway Park (1982, MFA).

Rockwell and the Shinjin also highlights the bond baseball has created between the United States and Japan. During the official opening of the American baseball season, which took place this year in Tokyo, the Red Sox saw first hand that Japanese fans are equally passionate about the sport. The MFA’s installation highlights their devotion to the game with the inclusion of four Japanese postcards from the Museum’s extensive collection. Featured are baseball-themed woodblock prints, two from 1932 by Takahashi Haruka, New Year’s Card: Baseball Scoreboard with Keio Pennant and New Year’s Card: Waseda Baseball Pennant, as well as two by unknown artists from the late Meiji (1868–1912) era, Baseball from the series Middle School Education Postcards and Baseball Player with School Background. Complementing these works is a contemporary print by Abraham Schroeder, Daisuke Matsuzaka (2007, Collection of the Artist). The MFA has a long history with Japan, dating back to the 19th century and continuing today with its sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2009.