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Riding their bicycles through the streets of their Massachusetts hometown, the elderly Norman Rockwell and wife appear to be living the idealized life depicted in his famous illustrations. Indeed, Rockwell's voiceover in this 1972 biography describes an idyllic childhood, extreme neighborliness ("There's almost nobody in town I haven't painted."), and the desire for a happy life ("I painted the way I would like life to be."). This Academy Award winner for best short subject uses reenactments, old film footage, and plenty of Rockwell's famous paintings to illustrate the philosophy and artistic life of the man who, for many, created the image of what American life should be. In a short 24 minutes, viewers get to see his vast chronicling of the 1950s and '60s on the covers of the
Saturday Evening Post, from the heroic to the mundane, from John F. Kennedy's election to a child's haircut. Through his commentary, as with his artwork, Rockwell's appreciation of people is evident. He even finds understanding for the hippies of his time when he says, "Underneath their floral arrangements, they're just the same people."
--Kimberly Heinrichs
Product Description
Rockwell himself narrates this Academy Award®-winning film, the only authorized video portrait of one of America's most beloved illustrators. Through the use of archival film footage, dramatic reenactments, and the artist's work, this program shows how Rockwell faithfully recorded the world around him and reflected the aspirations and concerns of a whole generation. To own this program is to own a piece of American history.
