"What a wonderful book this is-and what a rare behind-the-scenes look at the artistic process it provides. So many of the moments we see as impossibly idealized versions of us are in fact us. Rockwell's genius improves with this 'backstage' glance."

--KEN BURNS, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker

NORMAN ROCKWELL: BEHIND THE CAMERA The young couple on prom night, the girl at the mirror, the returning war hero--these iconic Norman RockweLL paintings have become part of the fabric of American popular culture. What most people do not realize, however, is that virtuaLLy everything and everyone that RockweLL painted from the 1930s onward was first eLaborateLy staged for the camera.

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera is the first book to explore, in depth, the archive of more than 18,000 bLack-and-white photographs housed at the Norman Rockwell Museum in St0ckbridge, Massachusetts. RareLy seen in public, these images provide remarkable insight into the imagination and working process of one of the twentieth century's most renowned artists. Rockwell's most famous works, as welt as many important Lesser-known paintings, are presented here alongside the startLingLy weLL realized study photographs from which he painted. The juxtaposition reveals an eye for composition and detail that was equaLLy at home in two mediums.

A natural storyteller, Rockwell envisioned his narrative scenarios down to the smaLLest detaiL. He carefuLLy orchestrated each element of his design for the camera--seLecting props and Locations and choosing and directing his modeLs--before beginning to paint. MeticuLousLy composed and richly detailed, Rockwell's study photographs mirror his masterworks in a tangible paraLLeL universe.

Foreword by John Rockwell

Introduction: The Illustrator and the Camera

by Stephanie Haboush Plunkett

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera

CHAPTER 1

Illustrations and Features

CHAPTER 2

World War II

CHAPTER 3

Saturday Evening Post Covers:The Arlington Years

CREATING AUTHENTICITY

THE ARTIST AS DIRECTOR

CHAPTER 4

Advertisements and Commercial

Commissions

CHAPTER 5

Saturday Evening Post Covers:The Stockbridge Years

ROCKWELL THE UTERAUST

CHAPTER 6

LOOK Magazine

Afterword

Acknowledgments

Notes

Notes to the Captions

Selected Bibliography

Credits

Index