Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy: The "A Favorite Artist & Illustrator" Story

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

The "A Favorite Artist & Illustrator" Story

It was an ordinary day. Re-reading an edition of The Saturday Evening Post before throwing it in the trash. Used to have a subscription, but stopped it when I found I had too many magazines coming each month. When some of the others ran out, I decided I enjoyed the Post so I once again became a subscriber. One of my favorite artists, or perhaps I should say illustrators, is Norman Rockwell and I always enjoyed his contributions to The Saturday Evening Post. Even though he died over 40 years ago, the magazine still publishes some of his work from the past which always brings back great memories of him and his artwork. Mr. Rockwell was not only a fantastic artist, but a great storyteller in the work that he did. His illustrations took hours to study before you were able to see everything that he had intended his work to convey to the viewer. His work was said to have captured the triumphs and foibles of the common man and are as popular today as they were in decades past. Norman was a master artist who lived during a period referred to as "The Golden Age of Illustration," when the United States enjoyed the brilliance of such illustrators as Winslow Homer and N.C. Wyeth. He was born in New York City on February 3, 1894 and wanted to be an illustrator all his life. He entered the Chase Art School at the age of 14 and then on to the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. In 1912, he got his first major commission when he was 18 years old. He illustrated the book "Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature" by Carl H. Claudy. I first got to know his work when I joined the Cub Scouts in 1952 and began to read some of the old "Boys' Life" magazine which featured his work. In 1916 he joined the staff of The Saturday Evening Post. He shared a studio with renowned cartoonist Clyde Forsythe who also worked for the "Post."

Mr. Forsythe helped him submit his first cover painting, "Mother's Day Off" in 1916. 47 years later his work had appeared 322 times on the cover of the magazine. His very last cover in 1963 featured John F. Kennedy a week after the President's assassination. The last ten years of his career was devoted to painting about civil rights, poverty and space exploration for "Look" magazine. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, in 1977 for "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country. The following nine covers of "The Saturday Evening Post" are from my birth year of 1944. Check out the work he did in just one year for the cover of the magazine. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Click to enlarge the images.