After shattering attendance in London, Norman Rockwell’s America, a comprehensive exhibition of the legendary illustrator’s 60-year career is now open at the Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA).

Featuring more than 52 original paintings and all 323 vintage Saturday Evening Post covers, the exhibition visually chronicles the evolving landscape of American culture and society from 1916-1969 and is one of the largest Rockwell exhibitions to ever travel.

It features 18 paintings which have not traveled before or been seen by the public.

Rockwell’s six-decade career depicts one of the most eventful periods in American history, spanning four wars, the Great Depression, the space race and the Civil Rights Movement. Organized by the National Museum of American Illustration in Newport, Rhode Island, the exhibition premiered to critical and popular acclaim at London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery in December 2010.

“We wanted to do a Rockwell show for some time, and it’s all a question of timing,” said Graham Boettcher, Curator of American Art at the BMA. Planning two years in advance, means that timing the right slot on the calendar for such an exhibit is important.

“This is the product of looking for what is available for the time we wanted it, but moreover, looking for a show that is of the highest caliber that really gives a complete overview of Norman Rockwell’s life and career,” Boettcher said.

Boettcher said though Rockwell might have been thought of as an illustrator, he was no less a painter because he created works of art for magazines, books and advertisements.

“Indeed, he was perhaps the greatest illustrator in history, but he wasn’t any less an artist. Behind each of his illustrations is a beautifully rendered oil painting.  Rockwell was a highly skilled and extremely versatile painter,” Boettcher said.

Judy and Lawrence Cutler of the National Museum of American Illustration—the first national museum devoted exclusively to American illustration art—brought the exhibit to Birmingham.

“Arriving here and seeing the space transformed into perhaps the best presentation of a Rockwell show… everything about this exhibition is perfect from our point of view,” Lawrence said. “The goal on founding our museum—which has been going for 14 years now—was to share all this art.”

The selections for the exhibit show his influence from great masters in his early years to his wanting to change and be more socially conscious when he went to work for Look Magazine in his later career.

All throughout his career, Rockwell was portraying America. From the early years when patriotism was a theme during WWI, through the Depression, WWII and the era that followed, one gets a sense of how the country changed while seeing it through the works of a single artist known for his depiction of people.

His contrasting viewpoints, which showed up in his earliest works for The Saturday Evening Post, were something he became known for over the years.

As the Great Depression set in, Rockwell purposefully chose not to show people at their worst, instead he showed a side of America that was enduring the hardships and making due with what was going on, despite the economy crumbling around them.

One might get a sense that Rockwell is truly an American Master depicting his love or irony, America, history and even showing an appreciation for the great artistic works of the past.

The early works of the artist sometimes showed looser brushwork and things such as the artist signing with his middle initial (“P” for Percival) before he worked out his stenciled signature on later works.

At the midpoint of his career, there were many characters Rockwell used over and over again, such as Willie Gillis, based on a young man eager to enlist. The character’s adventures are highlighted in both original paintings in the exhibit to the many Post covers Gillis donned.

“We feel very, very honored and enthusiastic to see that our public has already shown such interest and enthusiasm,” Andrews said.

This is one of the largest Rockwell exhibits in the past ten years. And nothing in the gallery was done by accident, from the paint colors to the way the paintings are showcased.

Since the last exhibit showcased in the space at BMA, 150 feet of wall was demolished and 105 feet was put back to open up the area so visitors would pay more attention to each of the sets showcased from Rockwell’s career.

The tour is interactive, with special features for those who visit the exhibit.

An astronaut, a congresswoman, a filmmaker and a recent college graduate all serve as special guest speakers on the Museum’s original audio tour for Norman Rockwell’s America. These various perspectives address Rockwell’s iconic images from unique points of view, helping visitors to consider not only the works’ historical contexts, but also how they relate to today’s world. The audio tour is free and can be accessed from any cellular phone, smartphone, or internet-enabled device.

To complement the show, the Birmingham Museum of Art has organized a supplemental exhibition, which focuses on Norman Rockwell’s work for The Coca-Cola Company, as well as an exhibition of illustrations from the BMA’s permanent collection, including works by Frederic Remington, N.C. Wyeth, and Maxfield Parrish.

“Norman Rockwell and Coca-Cola are two true American classics, so we were thrilled to receive the loan from The Coca-Cola Company Archives,” says Gail Andrews, R. Hugh Daniel Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art. With this addition, visitors will enjoy learning about Rockwell’s fascinating approach to traditional commercial advertising, in which he adapted his magnificent, large-scale oil paintings to highly successful Coca-Cola advertisements.”

One of six original works for the Coca-Cola Company are on display as well as many paintings by the artist that Coca-Cola chose not to use in its advertising campaigns over the years.

Of those six, only three have ever been located. “We’re also hoping that some of our visitors will play a part in locating these and finding the treasure,” Boettcher said. “You’ll see his successes as well as his misfires and you’ll also see quite a bit of ephemera as to how those were used.”