Norman Rockwell: Drawings, 1911-1976

arrived in very good shape

Many of the images are so poorly reproduced that I almost rewrapped and returned this book after flipping through the first 30 or 40 pages : even the drawings seem blurred and out of focus to varying extents, which I find very frustrating. Strangely, after about page 100, this improved for the next hundred or so pages before deteriorating again. As this is put out by the Norman Rockwell Museum, I am particularly disappointed as I presume they possess most of the originals, and his covers are especially easy to reproduce clearly, even for cheap mass market productions.However: the content is fascinating …. I had not been aware how many sketches Rockwell would produce for a cover - often a dozen or more, many of which were highly finished like presentation drawings. Also, one can chart how he refined his designs and the details of a work, even from a very polished drawing to the final painting - a face more subtly defined, an arm rendered more slender, a shoe turned a little inwards, an expression made more provocative : he was truly a master and a perfectionist.The book also has many of his preparatory photos, and it is fascinating how he refined these to arrive at his final image : he would strengthen the jaw line of an athlete to make him look somehow more “all-american”, tweak a nose to render a character more iconic, elongate a body to make the figure appear more “natural”. It really brought home how he used photography as a tool as opposed to simply reproducing a photographic image. Seeing the whole process and then the resulting image, one realises how instrumental he was in creating what we think of as quintessentially “American”, whether it be a small town cop, the girl next door, or the local hero-athlete.So in-spite of the appalling production quality, I kept the book. So sad that a book with such extraordinary content has been diminished by such poor production values.

This book is truly a fantastic gem. It was written to coincide the 2022-2023 showing of these same drawings at the Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts. Since at this moment of my review “Henry G” has made the only other review & I felt compelled to settle a matter. The alternative drawings he complained about were in the Foreward of the book & from the artist who created them as he explains Rockwell’sinfluence on his life’s work. There are an amazing amount of Rockwell drawings & preliminary studies of yes, the paintings they eventually became, so of course they are in included. Henry G clearly did not read any of this book. He only flipped the pages & looked at pictures & completely missed what this book is truly about & how it is structured. I have several books about or by Norman Rockwell as I too am kindred a spirit with Louis Henry Mitchell who wrote the Foreward & in my love for Norman Rockwell’s finished work and every step he took to get it there. This book is a deep dive into those processes & reveal his sketches/drawings & lots of important, interesting & anecdotal stories to go with it. Again, this is a gem to be treasured.

If you're interested in learning about Norman Rockwells 'process' for creating a painting, this is just about the best resource out there -it touches on his training at the Art Student's League (still in operation in New York City) where he honed his outstanding drafting skills, and tracks several paintings from conceptual thumbnails to the finished work. Could do without the woke lecture in the forward which adds no value knocking off a star for that and another for the poor production valuesIf you're a fan of rockwell or a fan of his technique. you'll love this book with one caveat- the actual book itself:- low quality paper/printing- the paintings and even drawings and inks look very unsaturated.- small format - i wish this book was a larger format.- few page sized reproductions of drawings.

Very well designed and executed book. For the most part, Rockwells drawings were a means to an end. They provided the framework for his paintings. They were not an end in themselves. Presenting drawing after drawing as though they were the finished product would be a great misunderstanding of their value. The author does great job of explaining how the drawings were created and how they were used. This is far more than a collection of drawings. Its an education into how Rockwell worked.