Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator Signed Limited Edition 1970

Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator Buechner, Thomas S. Published by Abrams, NY, 1970.
Hardcover. #F/58 of 1000.
Signed by Buechner and Norman Rockwell on the limitation page.
Publisher’s full blue leather and marbled paper slipcase.
Large oversized heavy book.
Book is fine, slipcase shows some edge wear, a few dings, and a some tiny spots of loss to the paper, but is otherwise very good.
Title: Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator
Publisher: Abrams, NY
Publication Date: 1970
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very good
Signed: Signed by Author Buechner and By Norman Rockwell.
“AN ARTIST OF REMARKABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS… BELOVED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”: SIGNED LIMITED NORMAN ROCKWELL: ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR, RICHLY ILLUSTRATED, ONE OF ONLY 100 ARTIST’S PROOF COPIES
BUECHNER, Thomas S. Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator. New York: Harry N. Abrams, (1970). Large thick folio, original full navy morocco, tan morocco spine label, marbled endpapers, original slipcase.
Signed limited first edition, one of 1100 copies signed by both Rockwell and Buechner, with over 600 illustrations, including hundreds in color and many folding.
“A lifelong chronicler of personalities and events, Rockwell… was an artist of remarkable accomplishments who possessed an extraordinary eye for detail and was beloved by the American people” (ANB). This comprehensive survey of his career not only showcases his celebrated Saturday Evening Post covers (it includes all 321 of them) but also explores other facets of his work, including advertising, book illustration, patriotic contributions to the United States’ effort in World War II, and poignant and challenging portrayals of America’s changing postwar society. Buechner, director of the Brooklyn Museum, was the first art who devoted serious attention to Rockwell’s work. The hundreds of illustrations in this volume include over 80 color folio images, many of which are two-page or folding. As the signed limitation page explains, Rockwell supervised the pulling of 10 collotypes from his paintings, each in a limited edition of 110 copies, designated with letters A-J and each letter numbered 1-100. Ten Artist’s Proofs of each collotype were designated AP-A through AP-J, numbered 1-10 for each, reserved for Rockwell. Rockwell signed all 1100 individual collotypes.
Norman Rockwell is one of the most famous American artists to date. Throughout his career he was an author, painter, and illustrator known for reflecting American small town culture. His most famous works included covers for the Saturday Evening Post, totaling 322 illustrations for the publisher. Rockwell said, “Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed.” Throughout his career, Rockwell strove to share the small moments of grace, community, and perseverance during economic depravity, war, and civil unrest. During WWII, Rockwell painted four works collectively titled the “Four Freedoms.” They toured across the U.S. raising more than $130,000 for the war effort and gained exceptional popularity. In the last 10 years of his life, Rockwell left the Saturday Evening Post for another magazine, Look. While illustrating for Look, Rockwell’s work focused more on social issues such as the Vietnam war, poverty, and race. In 1977, one year before his death, Norman Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom honoring him and his art that had “become part of the beloved American tradition.” Rockwell’s nearly 60 year career illustrated both the “heartwarming and heart-wrenching sides of American life in the 20th century.”