American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell

Thank you to everyone who helped make American Chronicles a great success - more than 44,000 people attended the special exhibition!

About the Exhibition
American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell traces the evolution of Rockwell’s art and iconography throughout his career – from carefully choreographed reflections on childhood innocence in such paintings as Day in the Life of a Little Girl (1952) to powerful, consciousness-raising images for Look in the 1960s documenting the traumatic realities of desegregation in the South. Rockwell’s artistic contributions and the impact of his images on American popular culture are explored within the context of his life and times, through in-depth exhibition commentary and a decade-by-decade installation of 42 original artworks, as well as a complete set of 323 Saturday Evening Post cover sheets spanning 47 years.

Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum, located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, American Chronicles features original art from the museum’s noted collections. The artist’s paintings, drawings, and studies span 56 years, from his 1914 interpretation of American folk hero Daniel Boone securing safe passage for settlers to the American West, to his 1970 report on American tourists and armed Israeli soldiers witnessing a Christmas Eve ceremony at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The exhibition invites visitors to compare their own 20th-century American experiences with the events portrayed by Rockwell, and to consider how much Rockwell’s vision may have influenced their lives.

For Students 

Norman Rockwell educator resources

Adopt a Rockwell Image

DAI offered the unique opportunity to adopt Saturday Evening Post covers and treasured Norman Rockwell paintings from the exhibition. Read more

Rockwell Store

The exhibition included a special store with a variety of Rockwell-related memorabilia and merchandise available for purchase. Select items are still available through our online store.

Picture YOURSELF on the Cover!

Visitors could pose and have their pictures taken in front of a life-size Saturday Evening Post cover while visiting American Chronicles! Props were available to create Rockwell-inspired scenes! Photos taken by museum staff during the exhibition were posted to our website, as well as the DAI Flickr  and Facebook pages. Visitors were also invited to post pictures their own pictures. Follow the links below to view the "cover shots."

Sponsors

Presented By

Executive Sponsors
Berry Family Foundation
Premier Health Partners

Benefactor Sponsors
Mr. Charles D. Berry
ELM Foundation
Kettering Health Network
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Patron Sponsors
DP&L Foundation
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

Media Sponsor
WHIO-TV
Dayton Daily News
K99.1 FM

Rockwell Documentary Partner
ThinkTV

Official Host
Crowne Plaza Dayton

The Norman Rockwell Museum received support for this exhibition from a
grant from The National Endowment for the Arts, American Masterpieces Program. Publication support has been provided by the Henry Luce
Foundation, and media sponsorhip has been provided by the Curtis Publishing
Company and by the Norman Rockwell Estate Licensing Company.

Images (from top):
Going and Coming (Detail), Norman Rockwell, 1947, Oil on canvas. Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947. Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, ©1947 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN

Art Critic, Norman Rockwell, 1955, Oil on canvas. Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, April 16, 1955. Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, NRM.1998.4, ©1955 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN