Normal rockwell

Summer is fast approaching—in the Northern Hemisphere, ahem—and that means lots of great booklists to browse. What are Nat Geo staffers reading this summer? Let them tell you! Two books that I retu…

copyright- estate of Norman Rockwell

NORMAN ROCKWELL: "Girl with a black eye" (1953)

“Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg” will be on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., from July 2 through Jan. 2, 2011. The exhibition showcases 57 major Rockwell paintings and drawings from these private collections. The museum is the only venue for the exhibition.

Rockwell

Animals have been inspiring artists since the first cave paintings of deer and bison -- and pet cats, dogs, birds, and others have continued to aid creativity with their beauty, humor, companionship, and cuteness. Read all about some of the greatest visual artist and animal relationships and the incredible work they have inspired.

If you want to appreciate the artistic side of Rockwell’s work, pay attention to his designs.

Mary Doyle Keefe was a 19-year-old phone operator in Arlington, Vermont, when Rockwell called and asked if she wouldn’t mind posing for the soon-to-be iconic cover. Read the Post’s 2013 interview with Mary, who passed away this week at age 92.

For this work, Rockwell posed the young model at the top of the stairs in his own home and assembled a group of friends and neighbours downstairs. Once he was satisfied with the photos, Rockwell would return to his studio and combine his preliminary sketches with the photos to create a series of small-scale colour studies. These preliminary sketches allowed Rockwell to experiment with colour and provide a glimpse into the artist’s creative process. After executing several colour studies for…