"American Stories: From Revolution to Rockwell" Opens at NRM
A major new exhibition spans 250 years of American illustration — from Paul Revere's engravings to the present day.
Saturday, June 6, through October 26 | Stockbridge, MA
The Norman Rockwell Museum opens its biggest exhibition in years on June 6: "American Stories: From Revolution to Rockwell," a sweeping survey of American illustration art timed to the nation's 250th anniversary. The show features nearly 100 powerful works across themed sections, including original paintings, prints, book illustrations, broadsides, posters, advertisements, and digital media from the museum's own holdings and major loans from institutions and private collectors across the country, including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
Opening in June and occupying nearly the entire museum, the exhibition brings together more than 150 works spanning over two centuries of American visual culture, from Revolutionary-era engravings by Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin to contemporary digital media. Rockwell's work anchors several sections but shares the stage with other artists—illustrators, printmakers, and graphic artists whose work shaped how Americans understood themselves and their history across two and a half centuries.
Museum director Laurie Norton Moffatt, who announced her retirement this year after four decades at the helm, has framed the show as a prompt to look forward as well as back.
Norman Rockwell Museum, 9 Glendale Rd., Stockbridge, MA. Tickets at nrm.org.
Image credit: Norman Rockwell, Liberty Bell (Celebration), 1976. Cover illustration for American Artist. Oil on canvas. Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, NRM.1988.01. Licensed by the Norman Rockwell Family Agency. All rights reserved.
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After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
