CMP Review 2026-09-30

September 30, 2026

Norman Rockwell holds a special place in my heart. My grandparents had a large print of The Farmer Takes a Ride hanging in their farmhouse, along with stacks of The Saturday Evening Post. We would pore over Rockwell’s illustrations, which were so full of detail that they were almost like a “seek and find.”

As an adult, our family lived next to the Norman Rockwell Museum, and my kids and I often visited his studio, where we even met some of his former neighbors and models.

This is one of those books I didn’t even know existed until I stumbled upon it in an antique shop. It’s toe-curling good, filled with anecdotes spanning the illustrator’s lifetime. Rockwell shares his working methods—including the color he always used for underpainting, Mars Violet—and what he gleaned from famous portraitists such as John Singer Sargent. He also writes candidly about his regrets and failings as a man, including a period when he and his wife partied too much, as well as his brushes with celebrities such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. His is not a rose-colored view of the past, but I found myself longing for some of the manners and sensibilities of the world he inhabited.

It’s a warm, candid, and charming self-portrait—and such a happy find.

@rbaburina