In 1957 Norman Rockwell purchased a home on South Street near the center of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where a dilapidated carriage barn in the backyard was converted into a working studio. Although he occupied approximately twenty studios during his life, he called this last one his “best studio yet.” As he grew older, he became concerned about the fate of the studio and in 1976 drafted a provision in his will entrusting the building and its contents to the Norman Rockwell Museum. The studio was temporarily emptied and moved by the museum to its current location in 1986, arriving on campus in two pieces on flatbed trucks. With his health declining, Rockwell produced few artworks after 1976, and his visits there gradually ceased. When the museum acquired it, the interior arrangement reflected the later and least active stage of his career. The present interpretation recreates the studio as it appeared in October 1960, when Rockwell was deeply engaged in completing Golden Rule for the April 1, 1961, cover of The Saturday Evening Post, offering insight into his intensive working process, his artistic inspirations, and a typical day in the life of the studio during one of its active periods.

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Michael Herrick