Photo Preview of the Norman Rockwell Exhibit at the DIA

Many of us know Norman Rockwell for his nostalgic scenes of everyday life that graced the cover of The Saturday Evening Post for almost five decades. The popular, sweet scenes of idyllic childhood and happy families, however, didn’t earn him acclaim from art critics. In fact, he is sometimes remembered more as an illustrator than as an artist. This was probably because his work was so widely disseminated and popular.

Given that he started off his career as the art director for Boys’ Life, the Boy Scouts of America publication, the themes of childhood and hometown values in his work should come as no surprise. These themes continued when he moved on to illustrate the cover of The Saturday Evening Post; but during Word War II, the themes of his work deepened to include heroism and freedom. For instance, his Four Freedom paintings of World War II depicted the liberties for which Americans fought: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech (his favorite of the four), Freedom to Worship and Freedom from Fear. They also brought in $132,992,539 in war bonds.