Norman Rockwell And Boys Life Magazine

An Artistic Relationship

Boys Life magazine cover showcased Norman Rockwell art from 1913 through 1971.

Norman Rockwell illustrations graced the cover of the monthly magazine fifty-four times during those 58 years. Fifteen appeared between 1913 and 1921.

The time period involved encompassed most of Rockwell's career, from its beginning to his last decade actively painting.

The subject matter for these covers concentrated mostly on ideas and situations close to the Boy Scouts' hearts. Adventure, service and patriotism were the main subjects presented in Boys Life. Norman Rockwell was a perfect fit for this magazine.

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The Beginning of Norman Rockwell's Career

After a little coaxing from Thomas Fogarty, one of his art instructors, Rockwell submitted samples of his artwork to Edward Cave, Boys' Life editor. Cave liked what he saw well enough to give then 18-year-old Norman his first job with a magazine.

Norman Rockwell started painting for Boys Life by illustrating stories for the January 1913 issue. Three works illustrating the short story, "Partners," a wilderness story, in that issue were the beginning of the long-lasting relationship. These paintings were actually painted in 1912 for publication in 1913.

Boys Life editor Cave became very pleased with Rockwell's work. Cave offered young Rockwell a salaried position ($50 per month) and eventually promoted him to art editor. Boys Life was the first of many highlights and breakthroughs in Norman Rockwell's career.

More story illustrations followed, sometimes even multiple stories in the same issue. Then in September 1913, Rockwell's first ever cover painting, Scout at Ship's Wheel, was published. His duties as art editor included painting for the cover and illustrating one story as well as screening artwork submitted to the magazine by other illustrators.

During this period, Rockwell was also submitting his work to other magazines.

Rockwell illustrated his last Boys Life story for the June 1917 issue. During those first four years (1913 to 1917), he produced over two hundred illustrations just for Boys Life. These were in addition to the eleven covers he painted during that time frame. Many of the covers from this period were related to a story published inside that issue.

Even in his early years painting, Rockwell was very prolific and dedicated.

After his stint at Boys Life, Rockwell moved on to other publications, most notably The Saturday Evening Post, The Country Gentleman, Life magazine and The Literary Digest. But he never forgot the boost to his career that Boys Life had provided.

Norman Rockwell's Boy Scout Calendars

In 1924, Rockwell began producing a Scouting-themed painting each year for the Boy Scouts calendar. In the early years of the calendar, Rockwell donated the painting directly to the Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts then published the calendar.

Calendars soon became big business. Rockwell started accepting payment for the Scout painting from Brown & Bigelow, one of the biggest calendar publishers. He would then paint it and ship it to Brown & Bigelow in St. Paul, Minnesota. After it was published on the calendar, the painting was then sent to Boy Scout headquarters. The painting then joined the Boy Scouts collection.

Each February, save for two years - 1928 and 1930, the same Norman Rockwell Boy Scout painting also appeared on the cover of Boys Life. Rockwell was vacationing in Europe both of the missing years, so there was no Norman Rockwell calendar or Boys Life cover those years.

In 1939, after he had painted Scouts camping, hiking and doing good deeds for 26 years, Rockwell was honored with the Silver Buffalo, the highest award given by the Boy Scouts of America. This award honors service to youth and scouting. An audience of 3,000 people at New York's Waldorf-Astoria attended the ceremony.

Once he was asked if he thought he might one day run out of subjects for his Boy Scouts paintings. Rockwell quickly replied, "The Boy Scouts are simply going to have to devise some new deeds or Brown & Bigelow will be in a stew." Rockwell continued to find new ideas to embody the virtues and rewards of Scouting in his paintings.

This tradition continued for over fifty years. The last Norman Rockwell Boy Scout painting was published in 1976 for America's bicentennial celebration. Rockwell died just two years later in 1978.

An Eye for Detail...
  And the Talent to Paint It!

Norman Rockwell's eye for detail make these paintings a chronicle of how Scouts and their uniforms looked.

In addition to his usual attention to the finest details, Rockwell also made sure that the Scout uniforms in the paintings were accurately represented. This was at the insistence of Boy Scouts of America officials responsible for the calendars and covers. Their insistence was unnecessary, though.

Rockwell had always displayed a penchant for authenticity. And his style of painting every detail meticulously was evident early in his career. Taken together, these traits practically guaranteed that each painting would be an accurate representation of his subject matter.

Most of the subjects of the Boy Scout paintings were real Scouts from his hometown of the time. Scouts from New Rochelle, New York, Arlington, Vermont, and Stockbridge, Massachusetts have all appeared on the Boy Scout calendar and Boys Life cover. Checking the details of the paintings will even reveal that he painted accurate troop numbers on their patches!

And so it is that one cannot think of Boy Scouts or Boys Life without also remembering Norman Rockwell. In a kind of synergy, they each improved the other, allowing both to become American institutions.

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