Museum-wide exhibit will feature 34 original paintings and Evening Post covers
The Sumter County Gallery of Art is receiving multiple Norman Rockwell works that will make for a large exhibit that is free to the public from Sept. 3 to Dec. 3.
The exhibit, called "Norman Rockwell: American Chronicles," will feature pieces from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Rockwell was an American painter whose works reflected American culture and movements during mainly the 1930s and '40s. He is most famous for painting covers for The Saturday Evening Post. His works depicted lives of everyday Americans as well as famous moments in history, such as Ruby Bridges being escorted into her elementary school as the first African-American student to integrate an elementary school in the South, according to Womenshistory.org.
“I mean, Rockwell is the quintessential American artist. Everybody, even if you don't know anything about art, you've seen Rockwell's art,” said the executive director of the Sumter County Gallery of Art, Karen Watson.
The Rockwell exhibit will take up the entirety of the gallery and is expected to be a popular attraction for Sumter locals and visitors.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event for Sumter,” Watson said. “The exhibition comprises 15 original paintings and drawings and 19 artist proof prints, or bond posters, and Saturday Evening Post covers. So, all of his Americana work from 1930 in World War II through the 1960s with civil rights, some of his most iconic paintings, we are getting the originals of.”
Sumter having this opportunity is a product of the gallery’s relationship with the Rockwell Museum being fostered by Watson during recent years. She said it began in 2015,
"when our then-curator wrote a proposal for a loan of a Norman Rockwell painting for a group show we were doing in 2015. And it was a successful proposal. We did get a single painting, ‘The Rookie,’ that was part of the show in 2015."
Watson has kept in contact with curator of collections at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Martin Mahoney, since 2015.
“Throughout this time period, we developed a really good relationship, and we started talking about bringing Norman Rockwell to our space,” Watson said. “And by the way, Martin came down with the painting and was very impressed by the Sumter County Gallery of Art. So that helped a lot. We were very professional, and so they had a positive feeling and they trusted
us with this piece. So fast forward to mid-2019, and we start talking again about a Norman Rockwell exhibition.”
Having a large Norman Rockwell exhibit in Sumter is said to be significant not only because of the works’ value and historical significance, but also because of how their historical significance relates to Sumter.
“Sumter, as a small Southern town, is about 50% white and 50% African-American, and the gallery serves our entire community. We have worked very hard on institutional change, and so we really wanted the civil rights work and also the military patriotic work because of Shaw Air Force Base. My proposal that I sent to them talked about what a major Air Force installation Shaw is,” Watson said. “So, it was important to us to include … the war bond posters and the military patriotic material. So that was the sort of professional connection to Rockwell. I feel like Sumter has a strong connection to the art of Norman Rockwell.”
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