NEW YORK, NY.- For over fifty years the art of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) entered the homes of millions of Americans on the covers of the Saturday Evening Post . As one of the most popular American artists of the past century, Rockwell was a man that had great interpretive and communicative talent and was capable of encapsulating the content of a whole story in the space of a single image. He was a unique observer of human nature and a talented storyteller, capturing America’s evolving society in small details and nuances, portraying scenes of the everyday life of ordinary people and presenting a personal, and sometimes idealized, interpretation of the American identity. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell is an examination of his life and work through his paintings, personal letters and photographs from the Norman Rockwell Museum collection.

The historic journey of America through the twentieth century can be narrated by Rockwell’s paintings. He had a unique vantage point that allowed him to be the record keeper of an era that covers the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression, through the introduction of electricity and automobiles, up to the Civil Rights movement and other societal changes. He was a chronicler of his time whose work can be seen as precursors to the modern snapshot, and his name has become synonymous with evoking a nostalgic image of an idyllic America.

The documentary aspect of his work captured the feelings, moods, and everyday life of average Americans, maintaining a delicate balance between idealism and reality. From the idyllic and ennobling the ordinary to portraying dramas and tragedies as well as growth and discovery across the American landscape. Rockwell was a unique genius of a painter who had a visual grammar and narrative to his works.

American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell also gives a unique overview of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA where the artist spent his last 25 years. This Stockbridge studio—which he considered his “best studio yet”— was moved from his home and preserved, offering visitors the opportunity to become immersed in Rockwell’s working environment. With an oeuvre of more than 4000 works, Rockwell was indeed a chronicler of American history, and this volume reveals both his life and the lives of most Americans at the time.

Danilo Eccher has been Director of GAM Galleria civica d’arte moderna e contemporanea of Turin since 2009. Stephanie Haboush Plunkett is Chief Curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum.

“ Norman Rockwell has a rare gift for a painter: the ability to astonish with normality .” -Riccardo Viale