Norman Rockwell's
"Happy Birthday Ms. Jones"
This art print is:

NEWLY CUSTOM FRAMED in a Top Quality CHERRY FINISH BROWN WOOD FRAME
Double matted
Framed Size: 17" x 20"
FRAMING ALONE IS WORTH OVER $150

NORMAN ROCKWELL BIOGRAPHY
Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed."

-- Norman Rockwell

Norman Percevel Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894 in a brownstone on 103rd street and Amsterdam Avenue in New York City, New York. Norman Rockwell always wanted to be an artist.

Being poorly coordinated, he realized by the age of 12, that he was unable to compete satisfactorily in sports, so he used his drawing skills to entertain his contemporaries. By 1908, when he was 14, Norman Rockwell left high school and switched to the National Academy School as full time student. In 1910, he left the academy and transferred to the Art Students League, where he studied with Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman. Fogarty's instruction in illustration prepared Rockwell for his first commercial commissions. From Bridgman, Rockwell learned the technical skills on which he relied throughout his long career.

He did odd jobs to support himself, while still living with his parents. By 1912 illustrating jobs were coming in fast enough to make other employment unnecessary. He executed his first commission, before the age of 16 (4 Christmas cards for Mrs. Arnold Constable), illustrated his first book when he was only 17 (Tell Me Why Stories), became art director of Boy’s Life the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, at 19. At age 21, Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York, a community whose residents included such famous illustrators as J.C. and Frank Leyendecker and Howard Chandler Christy. There, Rockwell set up a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe and produced work for such magazines as Life, Literary Digest and Country Gentleman. He reached the Pinnacle of his profession by doing for cover America’s most popular magazine, The Saturday Evening Post considered by Rockwell to be the "greatest show window in America", when he was 22.

Over the next 47 years, another 321 Rockwell covers would appear on the cover of the Post. Also in 1916, Rockwell married Irene O'Connor.

During the twenties, Norman Rockwell became rich and famous. He took up golf, sailing, joined clubs, found his very own bootlegger and spent as much time partying as did painting. He was accepted by society, pursued by publishers and divorced by Irene. He became the top cover artist for the Saturday Evening Post. His work appeared almost every month and beginning in 1919 he did a Christmas cover every year without interruption until 1943 – but was tempted by others offers.

The 1930s and 1940s are generally considered to be the most fruitful decades of Rockwell's career. In 1930, he married Mary Barstow, a schoolteacher, and the couple had three sons. The family moved to Arlington, Vermont, in 1939, and Rockwell's work began, more consistently, to reflect small-town American life.

In 1943, inspired by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's address to Congress, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms paintings. They were reproduced in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post with essays by contemporary writers. Rockwell's interpretations of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom From Want and Freedom From Fear proved to be enormously popular. The works toured the United States in an exhibition that was jointly sponsored by the Post and the U.S. Treasury Department and, through the sale of war bonds, raised more than $130 million for the war effort.

Although the Four Freedoms series was a great success, 1943 also brought Rockwell an enormous loss. A fire destroyed his Arlington studio as well as numerous paintings and his collection of historical costumes and props.

In 1953, the Rockwell family moved from Arlington, Vermont, to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Six years later, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In collaboration with his son Thomas, Rockwell published his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, in 1960. The Saturday Evening Post carried excerpts from the best-selling book in eight consecutive issues with Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait on the cover of the first issue.

In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher. Two years later, he ended his 47-year association with The Saturday Evening Post and began to work for Look magazine. During his ten-year association with Look, Rockwell painted pictures illustrating some of his deepest concerns and interests including civil rights, America's war on poverty and the exploration of space.

In 1968, Bernard Danenberg did an extraordinary thing; he put Norman Rockwell’s “Saying Grace” in the window of his gallery, along with 40 other paintings by Rockwell. The exhibition was reappraisal. His oils, original lithographs plates and figurines are sold out and become collector’s pieces immediately.

In 1973, Rockwell established a trust to preserve his artistic legacy by placing his works in the custodianship of the Old Corner House Stockbridge Historical Society, later to become the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge. The trust now forms the core of the museum's permanent collections. In 1976, in failing health, Rockwell became concerned about the future of his studio. He arranged to have his studio and its contents added to the trust. In 1977, Rockwell received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country." He died peacefully at his home in Stockbridge on November 8, 1978, at the age of 84.