download the 2008-2009 annual report - Norman Rockwell Museum

curatorial continuedand American visual culture—bringing together leading professionals workingin the field from institutions including the Library of Congress, Delaware ArtMuseum, Brandywine River Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art,Modern Graphic History Library at Washington University in St. Louis, Societyof Illustrators, Kelly Collection of American Art, Hallmark Collection, Frank E.Schoonover Foundation, and others. The collective accomplishments of these organizationswill be presented jointly and made accessible on the Web through theMuseum’s site. A Rockwell Scholars Program designed to inspire the ongoing studyof illustrated images within artistic and cultural contexts will be announced in thecoming year.permanent collection donationsThis year, a generous multi-year gift fromSenator Jack and Mrs. Jane Fitzpatrick addsCobbler Studying Doll’s Shoe, an iconic earlyRockwell work created for the April 30, 1921issue of Literary Digest, to the Museum’shallmark collection of Rockwell art. In addition,many outstanding donations tothe permanent collection have greatly enhancedthe Museum’s holdings of originalillustration art, particularly those createdby artists working during Rockwell’s peakyears. Generous donations from art collectorand National Council member RobertT. Horvath by Henry Pitz (1895-1976); TomLovell (1909-1997); Thomas Fogarty (1873-1938), Rockwell’s beloved teacher at theArt Students League; Edward A. Wilson(1886-1970); Norman Mills Price (1877-1951); Lyle Justis (1892-1960); Saul Tepper(1899-1987); George W. Barratt; MarthaJackson Cornwell (1865-1955); George Evans (1920- ); Kerr Eby (1889-1946);Charlotte Harding (1873-1951); and Henry J. Peck (1880-1964) are outstandingartworks that reflect the cultural significance of published imagery during theAmerican 20th century. An important donation from art collector and MuseumTrustee Steven Hirsch brought a poignant 1943 cover illustration for Life byFletcher Martin (1904-1979) to light, and a beautiful story illustration by MaryWaterman Bonsall (b. 1868) was added to the collection by artist/art historianand Museum Trustee Alice Carter and the Benjamin and Jane Sperry EisenstatCollection of American Illustration.The Museum also added the art of regional painter and illustrator Laurie Cormierto its permanent collection, with sincere thanks to the artist and his family. A giftedBerkshire artist who has always been inspired by the world around him, Cormierhas painted townscapes, landscapes, and wildlife scenes that capture the beautyof the Berkshires and of his native New Brunswick. His richly painted artworks haveappeared on the covers and pages of many books and periodicals, and have beenexhibited widely.We are extremely grateful to all of our generous donors for the outstanding gifts ofart that will be preserved, interpreted, and made accessible for generations to come.archival acquisitionsThis year, Anne Braman, who once modeled forRockwell as the school teacher in Happy BirthdayMiss Jones (1956), made a generous donation ofimportant ephemeral materials to the Museum.These included original correspondence fromNorman Rockwell to Braman’s family and severalof Rockwell’s original reference photographs,used for The Marriage License (1955). Braman’sfather modeled as the clerk for that painting.In addition to his past donations of originalillustration art, noted portrait artist EverettRaymond Kinstler kindly provided a 1941 letterof admiration from illustration giant CharlesDana Gibson to his celebrated contemporary, James Montgomery Flagg.Over the Top: American Posters from World War I inspired the generous gift of twoWorld War I posters to the Museum Archives from historian William Cohn,husband of deceased and beloved Museum Trustee, Jan Cohn. Museum guide andStockbridge resident Claire Williams gifted several photographs taken by LucienAigner in 1963, which were published in that year’s Massachusetts Electric Systemnewsletter. The photos feature former Stockbridge Selectman Bob Williams withNorman Rockwell in the artist’s South Street Stockbridge studio.An outstanding collection of approximately 500 archival tear sheets illuminatingthe career of mid-century illustrator Al Parker have been generously donated byKit and Donna Parker, the artist’s son and daughter-in-law. Cultural themes and theevolution of published imagery are reflected in this comprehensive collection ofParker’s work, which was greatly admired by Rockwell himself. These outstandinggifts make continued scholarship possible for researchers today and into the future.16 17