Ex Libris: Norman Rockwell

In this article in our ‘Ex Libris’ series, we meet the illustrator who told his stories with paint and palette.
Ex Libris: Norman Rockwell
"Young Lawyer," 1927, by Norman Rockwell. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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Of all American painters, Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) is surely the best-known and most-loved. Talent and decades of providing illustrations for such magazines as Boy’s Life and The Saturday Evening Post won him this place in the annals of American culture.

Though some critics don’t considered him a real artist but an illustrator—Rockwell himself proudly adopted that title—the fact remains that many of us easily recognize and take pleasure in his work: the scenes set in barbershops and doctor’s offices, the joy and humor so often found in his sentimental paintings of people and situations, his consummate skill with a brush, and his clear love for his country.

Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.