baseball vs progress 1954, Norman Rockwell

Rockwell gathered up models for this scene in midwinter by knocking on doors (in Stockbridge, Mass.) and rousting up members of the Little League team. 

Tiny Scott Ingram is sucking his fingers as the negotiations proceed. The boy in the baseball suit is big brother, Kenneth Ingram.

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/01/rockwell-fifties-part-iii/

For a good look at a LOT of Rockwell paintings, without buying a coffee table book, see https://totallyhistory.com/norman-rockwell-paintings his April Fools Day paintings were just terrific

“Fixing a Flat” by Norman Rockwell (I don't know how I've never seen or heard of this one before)

1935

 https://kardiologn.livejournal.com/827131.html

It doesn't belong on this blog, and I don't care. I dig these April Fools paintings that Norman Rockwell did, they are simply fun, and I finally found the answer key

I leave it up to you to choose to have fun, trying to find the 57 things Rockwell did in this painting.... or when you choose to read the answers, they are below, just click on the below to make it full size.

http://buttes-chaumont.blogspot.com/2013/04/rockwells-april-fool.html

Norman Rockwell’s Two Flirts on the cover of the July 26, 1941 Saturday Evening Post,

https://www.facebook.com/groups/856903977698293/permalink/3145280055527329

for some of the oldest history in the USA, you have to head east, into New England, and get into some small towns. Stockbridge MA happens to have been where Norman Rockwell moved to for his last 35 years, and where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had a farm

And on Main Street of this small town of 2000 people, happens to be the Red Lion Inn, a 1773 two story tavern and stagecoach stop that has grown over the centuries, and in 1967 it became part of Norman Rockwell's 8 foot long painting, Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas

Which I only learned of last month, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2020/03/wow-ive-never-seen-this-norman-rockwell.html  but you can read all about it at https://www.redlioninn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/HuffPost-Norman-Rockwell-Holiday-at-The-Red-Lion-Inn.pdf

or any of the many prestigious magazines and newspapers that have featured it: https://www.redlioninn.com/press/  including Conde Nast, Martha Stewart Weddings, Architectural Digest, Forbes, Boston Globe, and Wine Spectator.

The current owners have been running this hotel for the past 50 years, but it's one of the few American hotels to remain in constant operation since before 1800.


In 1775 Ethan Allen stopped in and bought a jackknife. Perhaps he was the first famous patron, but he was not the last. Longfellow was there on New Years Day 1857.

In the 20th century, they called the Red Lion the Inn of Presidents. Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt stopped by, and signed the guest book. Maybe they spent the night, maybe they simply had a good meal at the inn.

Two of those presidents spent the night due to car troubles;

the night President William Howard Taft arrived at the inn “His Ford motor car broke down near Monument Mountain. He walked from that location to the inn.” -  after the arduous walk, he stayed at the inn waiting until transportation was arranged.

President Theodore Roosevelt came to the inn during Sept 1902 when his carriage was hit on South Street. The president was not injured, but the first member of the Secret Service to guard a president was killed.

https://theberkshireedge.com/connections-the-red-lion-inn-guestbook-summons-history/

If you go through this little town, stop by the Norman Rockwell Museum, they have 998 of his original paintings

Wow, I've never seen this Norman Rockwell before, but I now know what's going to be my banner for Xmas

https://frenchcurious.tumblr.com/page/423

https://www.americanroadmagazine.com/ will have this in the current issue, Winter 2019

Mobilgas horses, art by Walter Early, Norman Rockwell, and Frederick Stanley in 1940-41

after spending about 10 hours trying to track down other art this artist did, before I found out that he changed his name from Oehrle to Early, and a couple hours after, now I discover that he had some advertising paintings for Mobilgas? Dang, he really landed a good client!

Well, to put some perspective on it, Norman Rockwell was also painting ads for them, at the same time. THAT is a lot of competition, and they hired other artists too, like Howard Scott, Frederick Stanley, and McClelland Barclay

for comparison, here's a Frederick Stanley

I think if they didn't sign them, we'd have a hard time picking which artist did what painting.

Uncle Sam by Norman Rockwell... that's more American than apple pie and John Wayne.

http://www.atticpaper.com/proddetail.php?prod=1974-sat-eve-post-ad-norman-rockwell

Some Maxfield Parrish paintings were adapted to advertise for commercial purposes, like these ads for Edison Mazda light bulbs, a division of GE

On December 21, 1909, General Electric first used the name Mazda on their lamps. The name was selected due to the fact that Persian mythology gave the name Ahura Mazda to the god of light.

When it was first used by GE it was chosen to represent the best that the American lighting industry had to offer at the time.

In the 1920s, lamps and bulbs were not the routine purchases they are today. Customers who wanted to test bulbs before purchasing them would use a bulb tester in their local hardware store.

It was made about 1925 by American Art Works Inc. in Coshocton, Ohio, for the Edison Mazda lamp division of the General Electric Company.

The logo, which shows two knaves facing each other while they appear to be discussing or contemplating a light bulb, was designed by the American painter Maxfield Parrish. This logo first appeared - without the light bulb or the General Electric trademark - on the cover of the November 10, 1921, issue of Life magazine.

https://www.cmog.org/artwork/light-bulb-tester

From 1924 Edison Mazda calendar comes this Parrish image entitled "Venetian Lamplighter" which was featured on the companies calendar for this year.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/maxfield-parrish-1924-edison-mazda-1808828373

http://www.dreamgardener.bizland.com/mazda5pcframe1919-23.html

sold for 845k
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/american-art-n08996/lot.35.html

http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/history/blotters/blot1097.htm
http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/history/blotters/blot153.htm
https://oldchristmastreelights.com/the_mazda_lamp_story.htm

 Norman Rockwell (above), Coles Phillips, and Wyeth
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/12/among-other-things-i-discovered-in-art.html  also did advertisement art for Edison Mazda

Norman Rockwell commissioned painting by Raybestos Brakes, recently sold by the inheritor of the painting, for $785,000

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/norman-rockwell-1894-1978-comfort-in-safety-5946072-details.aspx

see
https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Norman-Rockwell/94B93B6B9DC6FC92/Artworks  for a lot more of his art

Norman Rockwell did advertising for Pan Am... I wonder if he arranged for some free flights in his contract? I would!

Around the World with Norman Rockwell displayed the artist's travel sketchbook and images that later led to a highly successful Pan American World Airways advertising campaign. The sketches were made throughout his tour abroad in 1956, a trip sponsored by Pan Am.

https://www.panam.org/events/526-norman-rockwell-s-pan-am-adventure

Norman Rockwell for Red Top Fisk tires

Norman Rockwell created these illustrations for the Fisk Rubber Company’s Bicycle Club during World War I to get kids to buy from Fisk

https://dcc.newberry.org/items/fisk-club-boys-are-doing-their-bit

http://www.artnet.com/artists/norman-rockwell/fisk-bicycle-club-TXVf6u4oFD-63l0aqxlSlA2

http://www.norman-rockwell-france.com/rockwell-1949.php

Norman Rockwell automobile painting I haven't seen before "The Revolution that Started in a Shed at Night"

Part of the 50th anniversary advertising series by the Ford Company. A 1953 magazine has this and the accompanying advertising verbiage to tell the fanciful story of how Henry Ford worked in his garage in his spare time to make the quadricycle   

Norman Rockwell painted eight historical works for The Ford Motor Company, in celebration of the company's 50th anniversary in 1953. The present work is a study for one of the four paintings of the series in which Rockwell depicted the early days of the automobile. Here, Rockwell envisions Henry Ford in 1896, building his first automobile in the small brick shed behind his rented home on Bagley Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The scene is actually fantastical and idealized, since the car was actually designed by Ford with several friends at a nearby electric station. In this interpretation, Rockwell paints Ford working on a last adjustment, as his wife Clara looks on while darning socks in the corner.

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/paintings/norman-rockwell-american-1894-1978-the-revolution-that-started-in-a-shed-at-night-ford-motor-company-fiftieth-anniver/a/5372-68183.s

The Wonderful Life of Wilbur the Jeep, January 29th, 1944, Saturday Evening Post, the story was written by Wilbur Schram, illustrated by Norman Rockwell,

http://www.ewillys.com/2011/05/04/the-wonderful-life-of-wilbur-the-jeep-by-wilbur-schram/