ROCKWELL: A SUCCESSFUL WAY TO REACH THE POST Norman Rockwell was born in New York City in 1894. He always wanted to become an artist. Thus, when he was 14 years old, he started classes at the New York School of Art and left school two years later to study art at the National Academy of Design and then at the Art Students League.
Norman Rockwell had painted four Christmas cards before he turned 16 and while he still was a teenager he became the art director of Boys' Life - the Boy Scouts of America's publication. At 21, Norman Rockwell settled in New Rochelle, New York, and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe doing artwork for several magazines. When he was 22, Norman painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post, a magazine described by the artist as "the greatest show window in America." During the next 47 years, Norman Rockwell painted 321 covers for The Post.
Norman Rockwell was extremely successful but he was much affected when his studio was destroyed by fire that resulted in the loss of many paintings and his collection of historical costumes and props. Almost a decade later, Norman moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and published his autobiography. In 1977, Norman Rockwell was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation's highest civilian honor) for his "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country." He died at his home on November 8, 1978 when he was 84.
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