Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush

by Beverly Gherman

Book Overview

He was a pale, skinny boy with thick glasses, but Norman Perceval Rockwell knew that he could draw. Beverly Gherman shows us how this awkward boy grew up to become a famous illustrator. As a boy, he... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689820011
• ISBN13: 9780689820014
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.5" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

An introduction to America's most beloved illustrator

My first thought when I picked up "Norman Rockwell: Storyteller With a Brush" was why Beverly Gherman had selected "The Soda Jerk," the painting that appeared on the August 22, 1953 cover of the "Saturday Evening Post" for the cover of her book. Part of it has to do with Gherman's emphasis on Rockwell's art depicting kids throughout this book for young readers, but then I noticed that the painting on the back cover is "Norman Painting 'The Soda Jerk,'" also from 1953. Normal Rockwell was the premier American illustrator of the 20th century and it is hard to think that in this century where computers have been added into the mix along with photography that anybody is ever going to replace Rockwell in the pantheon of American artists. Certainly no one will be more identified with Americana than the man who painted the "Four Freedoms" series and all those "Saturday Evening Post" covers. But Gherman goes beyond those famous works to include those illustrations Rockwell did for editions of Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn." Opposite the book's first chapter is Rockwell's "Triple Self-Portrait" (1960), which has to be one of the two most famous ones ever done (and the artist includes the other, of Vincent Van Gogh, tacked on the canvas he paints himself doing).Gherman tells how an awkward boy grew up to become a famous illustrator. Young artists can identify with a boy who starts off sketching characters from Charles Dickens' novels (substituting J.K. Rowling of course). Still, dropping out of school at the age of fourteen to study art and begin a career that ends up capturing the heart of an entire nation mean something different a century ago when Rockwell did it. Gherman traces how Rockwell's experiences in life became parts of paintings as well as how he went on to paint some of he most people of his time, but that above all it was his more intimate American scenes that make his work so memorable. There are over two dozens examples of Rockwell's paintings included in "Storyteller With a Brush," along with photographs showing the artist at work and some of his models. The final painting, which Gherman deals with at some length, is "The Problem We All Live With," a 1964 work for "Look" magazine showing Ruby Bridges, an eight-year-old black girl, being escorted to a New Orleans school by four federal marshals. The choice is a particularly fine tribute to Rockwell's true vision of the American spirit and the nice thing is that when young readers go through this book it is just their introduction to Rockwell's body of work, because there are so many more great paintings out there to be discovered.

Rockwell The Man: An Inspiration For All Ages

To her string of biographies of famous people, Beverly Gherman has added another winner with Norman Rockwell, Storyteller With A Brush. While it is written for and marketed to young readers, this easy read will inform, delight and inspire anyone of any age with a curiosity about what makes great people tick, and how they got to be great. A passion for his art is an added bonus, as the book is sprinkled generously with Rockwell illustrations. It's also a walk down memory lane for history buffs, for Rockwell did indeed capture the story of American culture and history from the first World War into the late sixties. Gherman does a great job getting behind the scenes. We learn about Rockwell's childhood in New York City and, in summers, on a farm, and his very early realization that he loved to draw, and had a gift. She treats us to photographs of Rockwell at work, whether in a drawing class sketching a model or working in his own studio. What jumps out is not just Rockwell's innate talent but his tremendously hard work to improve his craft. Equally tenacious was his initiative in bringing his work to market, or, one might say, creating a market for his work. We can feel his powerful ambition as a young illustrator to break into the big times - of which the cover of the Saturday Evening Post was the epitome. We can feel his nervousness and anticipation as he waits in the lobby of that magazine's head office in Philadelphia for an art editor to review the three paintings he had brought with him from New York. Finally, we imagine his joy when they buy his work on the spot and commission additional covers, starting a nearly half century long relationship and the seemingly endless series that became his hallmark.It is difficult to imagine an artist, throughout his career, spending more time on understanding his subjects than Rockwell. Gherman tells the story of his exploration in 1935 of Mark Twain's hometown, Hannibal, Missouri, to help him prepare to illustrate Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He even bought worn clothes from farmers for pants and overalls, then hired models to wear them while he painted. We watch as Rockwell decides to leave the Post in 1963, after almost fifty years, to try something new at nearly seventy years of age. He reveled in painting more contemporary, as opposed to historical subjects, now for Look Magazine. Thus we are the beneficiaries of another stream of his sketches and paintings, this one documenting the space program, integration, the fight against poverty and other social issues and developments. Finally, we respect the admiration his hometown expresses with a parade only a couple of years before his death, and his determination to continue painting as long as possible; and we puzzle at the relative lack of contemporary acclaim art critics bestowed.Gherman has done reading audiences a great service in presenting the life of this fascinating artist in such a compell