Hail to the Chiefs

There’s a good chance that gathering dust in the attics and garages of Ventura County are enough Saturday Evening Posts and Look magazines to replicate the Reagan library’s newest exhibit.

Norman Rockwell’s famous illustrations of 20th-century America were so endearing that some people saved them by the boxful. When a Rockwell picture appeared on the Post’s cover, circulation for those issues jumped by as much as 250,000.

“He painted subject matter that people related to. He was just one of the folks,” said Jim Powers, curator of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum who has assembled some of Rockwell’s original paintings in an exhibit titled “Norman Rockwell Paints the Presidents and the America They Governed.”

Officially opening Saturday and running through May 9, the exhibit features more than 30 original paintings and illustrations of presidents, first ladies and presidential candidates, as well as some of Rockwell’s general depictions of Americana.

It’s those small-town scenes--of Boy Scouts and family dinners, baseball games and parades--that made Rockwell so famous, Powers said. Less well-known are his portraits of politicians.

“Really, there’s never been an exhibit that focuses on Rockwell’s treatment of presidents,” Powers said.

Among the pieces on display are paintings of Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

In his 60-year career, Rockwell produced about 4,000 illustrations, mostly for American magazines. But Powers said the prolific illustrator, who died in 1978, took particular care when depicting the commander in chief.

“He treats the presidents very reverently,” Powers said. “I think he was very determined to capture their dignity.”

Rockwell was commissioned to depict every presidential candidate from 1952 to 1972, said Bea Snyder, spokeswoman for the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. His reverence for the presidency often produced especially flattering portraits, she said.

“He talked about in his autobiography how he niced them up,” Snyder said, adding that Nixon’s prominent nose gave Rockwell particular trouble.

Could Rockwell have put a wholesome, All-American spin on today’s political scene--impeachment, partisanship and all?

“He would have found the brighter side of things rather than the more sordid,” Snyder said.

“Rockwell always tried to be impartial,” she added. “He always felt that if you could tell his political persuasion by the work he had done on these portraits, he did not do his job well.”

The original works the Reagan library has accumulated for its exhibit come from about a dozen sources, including the Rockwell Museum, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Private collectors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, also provided pieces.

Several large paintings are on loan from the National Scouting Museum in Murray, Ky. While still a teenager in New York City, Rockwell began his career as the art director for Scouting’s magazine, Boy’s Life. Reagan library Director Mark Hunt previously headed the Scouting museum and conceived the presidential theme for this latest exhibit.

A 1968 portrait of Reagan as California’s governor belongs to the Reagans and usually hangs in their Bel-Air home, Powers said.

That painting will be accompanied by one of the exhibit’s studies, along with the sketches that Rockwell, a perfectionist, used to create his illustrations.

“We’re going to be telling the story of how he worked along with this portrait,” Powers said.

In addition to showing the original oil paintings that were reproduced for magazine illustrations, the exhibit includes dozens of Saturday Evening Post covers on display in a re-created 1940s newsstand.

Rockwell’s life and career will also be highlighted in words by local storyteller Jim Woodard. His 35-minute presentation on the artist will run Saturday afternoons for 13 weeks beginning Jan. 30.

Despite being one of the century’s most famous and recognizable artists, Rockwell never fared well with art critics, Powers said. His usually light-hearted treatment of American culture and his draftsman-like approach to depicting reality often got him dismissed as a mere magazine hack.

“A lot of the art world didn’t consider him a fine artist, and he didn’t consider himself a fine artist,” Powers said. “He was an illustrator, cranking things out day after day for deadlines.”

Still, while critics may have scoffed, Rockwell’s work had--and still has--great popular appeal.

“People were very touched by his patriotism,” Powers said.

FYI

“Norman Rockwell Paints the Presidents and the America They Governed” opens Saturday and continues through May 9 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum near Simi Valley. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission to the library and museum is $5, seniors 62 years and over $3, and children 15 years and under are free. For more information, call (800) 410-8354.