|
|
Four Freedoms
Autumn at the Norman Rockwell Museum features two special exhibitions that can be enjoyed by everyone, young and old. The Berenstain Bears Celebrate: The Art of Stan and Jan Berenstain as new fans are introduces new fans to these collections while others revisit memories of their favorite childhood books. Freedom: Norman Rockwell's Vermont Years features major works by one of America's most important 20th century artist/illustrator. Freedom: Norman Rockwell's Vermont YearsExhibition runs through November 9, 2003 Norman Rockwell lived his dream to become an artist. Rockwell's work, which was vastly viewed through his illustrations for the covers of The Saturday Evening Post profoundly shaped America's self image. His images continue to be an inspiration to anyone lucky enough to view the originals in all their color and passion, as well as to the vast majority of people who have seen reproductions of his work.
Rockwell spent his early years in New York City studying at the New York School of Art. Among his teachers were Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman from whom Rockwell learned both illustration and technical expertise. It was after Rockwell moved his family to Arlington Vermont, in 1939, that his work began to reflect small town American family life. His inspiration came from his surroundings after he left New York City.
His inspiration for the Four Freedoms paintings was Roosevelt's 1943 Address to the US Congress. They were first reproduced in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post. Freedom of Speech; Freedom to Worship; Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear are the works forming the Four Freedoms paintings. The exhibition Freedom: Norman Rockwell's Vermont Years is an in depth examination of Norman Rockwell's creative process during the time he spent in Arlington, Vermont (1939-1953) during which the Four Freedoms were produced.
The exhibition focuses upon both the urgencies of wartime and the energetic post-World War II years in a presentation of prominent artworks created by Norman Rockwell, Mead Schaeffer, John Atherton, George Hughes and Grandma Moses, a rural coterie of internationally renowned artists.
Norman Rockwell decided to establish a trust by giving his works to the custodianship of the Old Corner House Stockbridge Historical Society, which was to become the Norman Rockwell Museum. His brilliance and achievements are a lasting memorial to him, and the American life that he represented so lovingly and creatively in his work. Later Rockwell added his studio and contents to the trust. His Stockbridge studio was later moved to the Museum site.
In 1993 the Museum moved from Old Corner House on Stockbridge's Main Street to it's present location on a 36-acre site which overlooks the Housatonic River Valley.
The Norman Rockwell Museum has the well earned distinction of being the most popular year-round cultural attraction in the Berkshires. While visiting Freedom: Norman Rockwell's Vermont Years there are other exhibitions currently on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum including one that reflects on the famous Berenstain Bears and their creators. The Berenstain Bears Celebrate:
|
|
|
The Berenstains have collaborated on their children's books for seven decades. The couple, Janice Grant and Stan Berenstain first met at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. At first, like Norman Rockwell, their initial success came from illustrated magazines - a popular source of information and entertainment in the pre-television era. The greatest success of this medium - the Golden Age of Illustration - came after the end of the Second World War. |
The Berenstains Philadelphia hometown happened to be the head office of one of the most popular illustrated magazines; the Saturday Evening Post. At first they published books based on family life such as The Berenstains' Baby Book featured prose with accompanying pictures, which was the first in a popular series of family humor books.. These books evolved into cartoon essays such as Marital Blitz, Lover Boy and You Could Diet Laughing.
In 1962 with help from the then editor-in-chief at Random House, Theodor Geisel, popularly known by his nom de plume - Dr. Seuss - the first Bears book was published The Big Honey Hunt. The Berenstains went on to sell over 260 million of their series featuring their signature characters, the Bears.
The Berenstain Bears Celebrate: The Art of Stan and Jan Berenstain examines both the creative genius and the careers of the couple and is an exhibit that anyone will enjoy - and is a natural way to introduce the appeal of art and visiting art galleries to a younger audience - children who will appreciate the illustrations.
Title: Norman Rockwell Museum Gallery Interior
Photo by Art Evans
© 2003 The Norman Rockwell Museum
Norman Rockwell Museum is open daily. Rockwell's original Stockbridge studio, located on the Museum grounds, is open May through October.
Opening Norman Rockwell Image:
Title: Christmas Homecoming
Artist: Norman Rockwell (American 1894-1978)
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, December 25, 1948.
©1948 SEPS:
Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN
Image Courtesy: Norman Rockwell Museum