Norman Rockwell, America's favorite artist, was the featured artist at a solo exhibition of 51 original works of art in December, 1991 here at East Lansing, Michigan's Saper Galleries.  For information on currently available Norman Rockwell limited edition lithographs, drawings, and oil paintings please contact Saper Galleries now for an immediate response.
 
 

Norman Rockwell  (February 3, 1894 - November 8, 1978) Dreamboats, original lithograph, signed by the artist, numbered 185/200 $5,200 framed.   Norman Rockwell was born in New York City on February 3, 1894.  During a career that spanned seven decades, Norman Rockwell was extremely prolific, creating over 2,600 published illustrations and the many color and charcoal studies used to develop these final images.  Relatively few Rockwell works were non-commissioned; even portraits of his family members and friends were sometimes done as illustrations for publication.  In other cases, the ideas behind an illustration were taken directly from Rockwell’s personal experiences.  In 1913 Norman Rockwell obtained the position of art director for "Boy's Life" magazine.  However, especially in his later years, Norman Rockwell did some painting and sketching that was not on commission.  Many of these landscapes and portraits were done on his extensive travels.  Others were created as part of an art class he took in the early 1960's in an effort to get himself out of his studio and improve his work. Throughout his life, Norman Rockwell traveled across the United States and to Europe, usually with his family.  Rockwell met his wife Mary during a visit to southern California in 1930 and, two years later, the couple and their baby son Jarvis lived in Europe for several months.  In the 1960's and 1970's, Rockwell and his wife Molly traveled around the world.  Sometimes the trips were related to specific commissions, such as Rockwell’s illustrations for Look magazine’s story on the Peace Corps, which took the Rockwells to Africa, Asia and South America.  Other travels were purely for pleasure and personal reasons. During his journeys, Rockwell painted and sketched, and he seemed to take great pleasure in this very private art.  During his trip to Europe in 1927, Rockwell’s sketchbook was stolen in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Writing about the experience in his autobiography thirty years later, Rockwell wrote," ... I’d done it just for my own pleasure.  No deadline; I wasn’t planning to sell it. I still almost cry when I think about it. I’ve never lost anything I felt so bad about." However, Rockwell’s sketchbook from his 1932 European sojourn does survive, as do a number of travel portraits and landscapes from later travels.  Extra Good Boys and Girls, original lithograph, signed by the artist, numbered 186/200  $7,600 framed. Rockwell rarely used watercolor in his illustration work but did use it as well as oils in his travel paintings.  These works, done directly from life and without studies, have a freshness and spontaneity not found in Rockwell’s final illustrations, and they also are more impressionistic and less detailed.  His charcoal and pencil drawings, however, show Rockwell’s control of the medium and innate attention to detail, even when working for no one’s approval but his own. Family Ties features published works as well as the personal art meant only for Norman Rockwell’s eyes and those of a few close family members and friends.  Both kinds of images provide insight into the private life of this celebrated and renowned figure. As an illustrator, Norman Rockwell almost never created works as objects of fine art.  His drawings and paintings were created for one of the many magazines or advertising accounts he illustrated for, and as such, had little or no value at the time.  In his early career, works were often just given away.  Ad agencies may or may not have kept the work.  An art director at an agency may have laid claim to the work or passed it on to someone in his staff.  No one then could have imagined the demand for his artwork nor foreseen the price it would command today. Collectors now pay well over $800,000 for the privilege of owning an original oil painting.  A post World War II finished oil painting used as a Saturday Evening Post cover could easily be worth $1 million or more.  Oil studies have sold for over $100,000 and charcoal and pencil drawings for near $100,000. When commissioned to do an illustration, or in preparation for a Post cover, Rockwell began by staging props and then drawing them.  Later in his career he simply photographed the setting and worked from the photos.  Generally he would render the concept first as a pencil and charcoal drawing, then do an oil study (or two) and then the final oil painting.  In his travels, Rockwell would draw and paint simply for his own enjoyment.  And occasionally, he was known to have taken classes for stimulation and to be with other artists. Football Hero, original lithograph, signed by the artist, artist proof  $4,800 framed.   All of these various types of works appear on the market today.  Good finished oil paintings that were covers for the Saturday Evening Post are rare but they do appear and as stated above can be quit pricey.  Works that are of the patented Rockwellian humor are the most highly sought after, with the best being in the high six figures.  Good oil paintings are available in the mid-range of $250,000 to $450,000.  Lesser known but good oils can be in the $80 - $150,000 range (or occasionally less).  Drawings and oil studies can start at around $20,000.  Limited edition prints such as those shown on this page start at $2,000 and go up from there. For information on specific Norman Rockwell titles and the availability of oil paintings created and signed by Norman Rockwell, please contact Saper Galleries now.