Norman Rockwell: An American Portrait.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Norman Rockwell arguably was the most beloved of American artists. As stated by this video's narrator, Mason Adams, he looked at the world as a keen observer with an affectionate eye. He saw the best in us and set down our loyalties and our yearnings. In many ways, his pictures take us home again." From his first covers for Boys'Life through his 47-year relationship with the Saturday Evening Post that produced more than 300 covers between 1916 and 1963, Rockwell's art quite simply made Americans f eel good about themselves and their country.

Spanning the eras from the horse and buggy to moon landings, Rockwell had a way of portraying people that made his audience chuckle with appreciation. Whether illustrating kids at play, young love, family reunions, or old age, he captured the emotions that made his subjects so readily recognizable. Dismissed at times as shallow, he...