Norman Rockwell Place (Manhattan)
Present name:None
Location:At the intersection of 103rd Street and Broadway
Honoree:  Norman Rockwell (1894-1878), an American illustrator and painter, was born at 206 West 103rd Street. He painted his first commission of four Christmas cards before his sixteenth birthday and was hired as art director of Boys? Life, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1916, he painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post. Over the next 47 years, another 321 Rockwell paintings would appear on covers of the Post, mostly reflecting small-town American life. In 1943, inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt?s address to Congress, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms paintings. They were reproduced in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post. His interpretations of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear proved to be enormously popular. The works toured the United States in an exhibition that, through the sale of war bonds, raised more than $130 million for the war effort. During his 10-year association with Look magazine, he painted pictures illustrating some of his deepest concerns and interests, including civil rights, America?s war on poverty, and the exploration of space. In 1973, Rockwell established a trust to preserve his artistic legacy by placing his works in the custodianship of what is now the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, MA. (Levine)
LL:L.L. 2016/23