Discover Norman Rockwell's Reference Photos For His Most Famous Paintings

New York City-born Norman Rockwell worked as an artist and illustrator, and became famous for his powerful reflections on American culture. For the majority of his career he was most recognized for his ongoing cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, and the continued work he did for Boy Scouts of America working on publications and calendars for them. It was only years later, after the Second World War, and after he left The Post, that Rockwell began receiving more attention for his paintings. This was due to his choice of subject matter becoming more serious and politicized, such as his series on racism for Look magazine.

Rockwell’s paintings are examples of narrative art, meaning he told rich stories by depicting a particular moment or sequence of events. His style leaned more towards Realism, a mid-19th century artistic movement characterized by subjects painted from everyday life in a naturalistic manner. This was at odds with the art trends of the time, which saw artists and collectors favoring Abstract Expressionism—where true-to-life depictions were abandoned and spontaneous, mark-making was embraced. Rockwell resisted pressure from critics to change his style and instead focused on new ways to develop his style.

A crucial part to his creative process was the use of reference photos to help with compositions and proportions of his subjects. Rockwell would set up these photos in his studio or on location and place people and props where he wanted them and get a photographer to take the pictures. He then worked from these, pasting them together to create his preferred composition.

Rather than use professional models, the artist often asked friends and family to be the stand-ins. Every element in their positioning, the clothes they were wearing posture, and hand gestures were all there to tell as realistic a story as possible.

Diving through the archives of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, dozens of these old reference photographs can be found. Here we pair a selection of his reference photos with some of his best known works to get more of an insight into the process of one the most important 20th century painters.

The Problems We All Live With, 1964

This is one of Rockwell’s most well-known images and is considered to be an iconic image of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The paintings depicts Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.

In the artwork, she’s on her way to school but because of the threats of violence against her, she is escorted by four deputy US Marshals, whose faces have been cropped out. Our focus is on Ruby, so the white protesters are out of shot but on the walls racial slurs and the remnants of thrown food can be seen, creating a powerful and evocative painting. The piece was part of Rockwell’s first assignment for Look magazine and it received a mix of praise and criticism, highlighting the clashing attitudes of modern America at the time.

In Rockwell’s photos we can see he used different models for the marshals and even got them to stand on planks of wood to get the feet in the right position for walking. The most important model, the girl who was to represent Ruby Bridges, was 8-year-old Anita Gunn. Rockwell had been recommended Anita by the girl’s grandfather, who was a smoking buddy of Rockwell, but it was only by chance he ran into her on the street one day when she was crying. The artist asked why she was upset and Anita explained that she wanted to take violin lessons but there was no money for them. Rockwell suggested that if her mother approved and Anita would model for him, he would pay for her lessons. $25 dollars later, Anita was immortalized in one of the most recognizable paintings in the world.

US Marshal pose, reference photo for The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell (From the collection of Norman Rockwell Museum)

New Kids In The Neighbourhood, 1967

New Kids in the Neighborhood by Norman Rockwell (From the collection of Norman Rockwell Museum)

This painting is a continuation of similar themes explored in The Problems We All Live With, in this case suburban integration in Chicago’s Park Forest community. The artwork depicts two African-American children and three white children staring at each other, with a removals van and various household items in the back and foreground.

Rockwell carefully shows the viewer what unites the children (their age, love of baseball and animals) and what seemingly divides them (their race, maybe even their parent's attitudes). Having children as the focus, Rockwell uses them as a sign of hope, a wish for them to see what they have in common as more important than their differences.

In this selection of reference photographs, Rockwell has composed separate images of the children, the removals guy, the cat and dog, and even of the furniture pictured, highlighting his incredible attention to detail. The models, like in many of his paintings, are local townspeople Rockwell met or were recommended by friends, and some models are even relatives of Anita Gunn from the previous painting.

Contact sheet for New Kids in the Neighborhood by Norman Rockwell

Murder In Mississippi (Southern Justice), 1965

Reference photo for Murder in Mississippi by Norman Rockwell (From the collection of Norman Rockwell Museum)

Explore more:

– Norman Rockwell Illustrates Presidential Elections
– Norman Rockwell In The Age of The Civil Rights Movement
– 7 Images That Changed American Attitudes