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Picturing Health
Norman Rockwell and the Art of Illustration
Americana was Norman Rockwell's forte. He spent his life depicting everyday life in the United States with wit, charm and incredible talent.
Title: Doc Mellhorn and the Pearly Gates, 1938
Story illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, December 24, 1938
Artist: Norman Rockwell (American 1894-1978)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 34 3/4" x 29 3/4"
Collection of Pfizer Inc
Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing , Niles, IL
Image Courtesy: The Norman Rockwell Museum
Norman Rockwell was a graphic illustrator who created a series of advertising campaigns for three pharmaceutical
companies and an optical company between 1929 and 1961. The original paintings belong to Pfizer Inc who have temporarily loaned
them to the Norman Rockwell Museum for an exhibit Picturing Health.
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Title: He's Going to Be Taller Than Dad, 1939
Print advertisement for The Upjohn Company
Artist: Norman Rockwell (American 1894-1978)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 34 1/2" x 27 1/2"
Collection of Pfizer Inc
Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing , Niles, IL
Image Courtesy: The Norman Rockwell Museum
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A main source of information and also entertainment during the past century were books and periodicals. Their
illustrators became famous such as
N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish and of course Norman Rockwell.
In 1916, when he was 22, Rockwell had his first cover illustration for the
prestigious Saturday Evening Post, then the largest weekly
publication in the USA with
a circulation of over 3,000,000.
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Every day life inspired the illustrator and his subjects were often sentimental in his own words they were to represent 'this best possible world'.
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Title: The Muscleman, 1941
Display advertisement for The Upjohn Company
Artist: Norman Rockwell (American 1894-1978)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 43 1/2" x 33 1/2"
Collection of Pfizer Inc
Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing , Niles, IL
Image Courtesy: The Norman Rockwell Museum
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Norman Rockwell's success in many ways is thanks to his incredible talent for weaving the narrative with the painted images. Like all
good art his pieces told a story but he, in the new world of mass media, had a knack for understanding what would make an image successful in the rapid changes
of the 20th Century.
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Title: Doctor and Doll, 1942
Display advertisement for The Upjohn Company
Artist: Norman Rockwell (American 1894-1978)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 41 1/2" x 32"
Collection of Pfizer Inc
Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing , Niles, IL
Image Courtesy: The Norman Rockwell Museum
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Picturing Health: Norman Rockwell and the Art of Illustration features eleven original paintings by Norman Rockwell from the Pfizer Collection.
The works are among the best of Rockwell's imagery specific to advertising. These particular
paintings were designed to suggest a positive
relationship with one's physician and the idea that emotional health is just as important to one's physical health.
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Title: Doctor and Boy Looking at Thermometer, 1954
Display advertisement for The Upjohn Company
Artist: Norman Rockwell (American 1894-1978)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 40" x 37"
Collection of Pfizer Inc
Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing , Niles, IL
Image Courtesy: The Norman Rockwell Museum
One segment of the exhibition will offer insights into the artistic process, from first idea to finished painting and ultimately the published work; fitting for perhaps
the greatest American illustrator.
Norman Rockwell Museum: January 27 - May 28, 2007
Norman Rockwell Museum at
www.nrm.org
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