Norman Rockwell Museum Presents Exhibition of Rarely-Seen Rockwell Works at The Gallery at The Park Avenue Bank
"Norman Rockwell in Black & White: Drawings for Classic Saturday Evening Post Covers"
On View through June 27, 2008

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique exhibition of work created by artist Norman Rockwell opened on April 22 at The Park Avenue Bank in New York City. "Norman Rockwell in Black & White: Drawings for Classic Saturday Evening Post Covers" features rarely-seen preparatory drawings created by Rockwell, offering intriguing insights into the artist's creative process. The exhibition has been curated by Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, which holds the largest and most significant collection of original Rockwell art. Artwork is from the Museum's permanent collection, which includes the artist's Stockbridge studio, its contents, and an extensive archive relating to Norman Rockwell's life and career.

The exhibition is presented by the MEET A MUSEUM exhibition program hosted by The Park Avenue Bank to promote the bank's desire to play an active role in New York's cultural life as well as to enrich the ordinary banking experience; "Hosting this special exhibition from the Norman Rockwell Museum at our gallery is a great honor," says Charles J. Antonucci, Sr., President and CEO of The Park Avenue Bank. "It adds further scope and depth to our endeavors." The bank's gallery space is made available to museums to share their collections and broaden their own outreach.

"This intimate exhibition of richly articulated drawings offers a rare glimpse into Norman Rockwell's narrative and artistic process," says Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator at Norman Rockwell Museum. "As complete as his final paintings for classic Saturday Evening Post covers and advertisements, they transcend their status as preparatory works for their exquisite draftsmanship and beauty."

Before Norman Rockwell began an oil-on-canvas painting, he carefully prepared a full-scale charcoal drawing. To Rockwell, the final drawing was the real foundation of a picture. All issues of composition, tone, and detail were resolved at this stage, with revisions being made until the drawing expressed the story exactly as Rockwell intended. "Norman Rockwell in Black & White" highlights the artist's process through eight lively illustrations, including such classics as "Yankee Doodle" (1937), "The Boy Who Put the World on Wheels" (1952), "The Art Critic" (1955), "Just Married" (1957), "Before the Shot" (1958), and "Family Tree" (1959); "I take the making of the charcoal layouts very seriously," Rockwell once remarked. "Too many novices, I believe, wait until they are on the canvas before trying to solve many of their problems. It is much better to wrestle with them ahead through studies." Knowing that the success of his story-telling covers and advertisements depended on the strength of his ideas, Rockwell struggled to develop engaging picture themes (the exhibition includes such unpublished ideas as "War News" and "Murder Mystery"). Since he was as thorough in working out composition, tonal values, and pictorial details in the final drawings, Rockwell's preparatory illustrations stand on their own as remarkably rendered works of art.