Study Sheet for Grades 4 through 8 - Test on November 21st and 22nd

Norman Rockwell was an American artist, born in New York City in 1894. The style of art he is know for is called Realism.  This means his artwork looks life-like. The medium he usually used for his paintings was oil paint.

His first job was as an illustrator when he was a teenager.  An illustrator is an artist who creates a picture that tells a story.  At age 22 he was asked to create the covers for America's most popular magazine at the time, The Saturday Evening Post.

He continued illustrating covers for this magazine for 47 years. During this time he did more than 300 cover illustrations.  These illustrations documented the introduction of radio, television, car and plane travel, and even space flights to the moon.

During World War II he was inspired by a speech given by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to do a series of illustrations called The Four Freedoms.  When someone purchased a war bond they would receive a copy of one of these illustrations.  The sales raised more than $130 million dollars.

The Four Freedoms are: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from fear, freedom from want. Norman Rockwell was such an important artist that in 1977 he received the nations highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After his death at the age of 84 in 1978 his art studio was made into a museum. The Norman Rockwell Museum is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. www.nrm.org