The Young Graduate (Big Day) and The Young Graduate come to auction from the formidable collection of storied television producers Thomas Miller and Robert Boyett, who found an affinity with Rockwell’s visual narrative. The legendary couple behind Miller-Boyett Productions developed some of the most influential and iconic sitcoms in television history—from Happy Days to Laverne & Shirley to Full House. The Rockwell pictures that Mr. Boyett and Mr. Miller, who died earlier this year, collected betray a compelling dialogue between three great American storytellers.
"In each episode of our television shows, we made sure to have characters make some form of human connection. Rockwell did the very same."
—Robert Boyett
來源
首件作品:費城富達銀行(1986年購) 紐約 American Illustrators 畫廊 紐約 Fitch-Febvrel 畫廊(1997年12月購自上述來源) 現藏者於1997年12月購自上述來源
文學
The first work: Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell, A Definitive Catalogue, vol. 1, Stockbridge, 1986, no. A293, p. 378 (illustrated)
Few artists have made as much of an impact on the American visual culture as Norman Rockwell. A master draughtsman and a keen observer of the quotidian, Rockwell produced an immense body of work noted for its vivid and loving depictions of the everyday graces of mid-20th century life, providing the pictorial framework for how Americans conceive of themselves then and today. His aspirational paintings lifted the American spirit during its darkest times but to this day reassure people worldwide of the fundamental values universal truths.
Rockwell’s long and prodigious career began when he was only 22, when he contributed his first cover to The Saturday Evening Post. This precocious achievement presaged not only the artist’s immense successes contributing another 321 covers for this hugely-circulated magazine, the body of work that cemented his status as the leading chronicler of the American experience, but also his crowning as one of the most beloved American artists of all time. The many iconic images Rockwell produced and popularized are ubiquitous records of the American ethos.