Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas

Norman Rockwell, Going and Coming, 1947, The Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947, Oil on canvas, Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.009. © SEPS: Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, IN. All rights reserved.
 Norman Rockwell, Going and Coming, 1947, The Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947, Oil on canvas, Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, NRACT.1973.009. © SEPS: Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, IN. All rights reserved.,
Gene Pelham, Photographs for Going and Coming, 1947, Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947, Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, ST1976_2992; ST1976_2993 © Norman Rockwell Family Agency
 Gene Pelham, Photographs for Going and Coming, 1947, Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947, Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust, ST1976_2992; ST1976_2993 © Norman Rockwell Family Agency,

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas

“I’ve always been known as The Kid with the Camera Eye.” - Norman Rockwell

For more than forty years, photographs were the building blocks of Norman Rockwell’s art. Following his preliminary sketches, they were the first depictions of his ideas. In this crucial stage between inspiration and canvas, Rockwell choreographed the elements of character, expression, setting, and detail, creating photographic images that became the templates for his paintings.

Photography was an essential tool for illustrators and commercial artists working in the first half of the twentieth century. For many, camera studies were merely visual notes, convenient shortcuts to accuracy and efficient aids for meeting deadlines. But Norman Rockwell’s thousands of reference photographs are exceptional in their scope, detail, and nuance.

A perfectionist, Rockwell went to elaborate lengths to create photographs that portrayed his concepts exactly, fully realized in every respect. Scouting models and locations, researching costumes and props, he carefully orchestrated each element of his design to be photographed before putting paint to canvas. Staging his scenarios for the camera, the artist instructed his photographers when and what to shoot as he directed a cast of amateur actors. Rockwell produced a wealth of photographs for every new composition, which he then transferred, in whole or in part, to his final work.

The gifts for narrative and character that define Norman Rockwell’s illustration likewise distinguish his photographs. Mirroring his masterworks in a tangible parallel universe, they elicit a haunting sense of déjà vu. Though Rockwell never intended his reference photographs to be viewed on their own merits, they are nonetheless authentic expressions of his vision. Works of art in their own right, they represent a little-known body of Norman Rockwell images in an unexpected medium.

Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas features over 150 photographs, tear-sheets, paintings, and drawings that span Rockwell’s prolific career. The exhibition is curated by Ron Schick and Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

 

Related Programming:

Distinguished Lecture | Norman Rockwell and the Power and Process of Published Art: An Evening with Curator Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and Award-Winning Illustrator Tim O'Brien
Catharine M. Rogers Lecture Series
Thursday, October 23, 6-7 p.m.

Norman Rockwell Day
Sunday, November 9, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Walk-In Tours | Special Exhibition - Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas
Sundays, 1 p.m., starting October 12

 

Featured Press:

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett on Great Day Connecticut
WFSB, November 3, 2025

Nyberg: New Britain museum exhibit celebrates legacy of Norman Rockwell
Ann Nyberg, WTNH, October 24, 2025

New Britain Museum of American Art PERSPECTIVES, featuring Stephanie Haboush Plunkett
iCRV Radio, October 16, 2025

NBMAA to feature creative process of Norman Rockwell
Claudia S. Hilario, New Britain Herald, September 9, 2025

Sponsors:

This exhibition is supported by Stanley Black & Decker, Kathryn Cox Endowment Fund for Special Exhibitions, and media sponsors Curtis Licensing—a division of The Saturday Evening Post—and the Norman Rockwell Family Agency.

In-kind support provided by Thomas Mach Interiors, Inc.