---
product_id: 17686043
title: "American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell"
brand: "deborah solomon"
price: "$67.85"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/17686043-american-mirror-the-life-and-art-of-norman-rockwell
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell

**Brand:** deborah solomon
**Price:** $67.85
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by deborah solomon
- **How much does it cost?** $67.85 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Description

American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell

## Images

![American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81zJIwsGQ-L.jpg)
![American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81sn0T4+DcL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Great biography of Norman Rockwell
  

*by G***L on Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2013*

"American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell", Deborah Solomon's new biography of illustrator and artist, is a pleasure to read. Written in chapters of years, the bio gives an even look at Rockwell's long and successful career, while not neglecting his personal life.Another reviewer of Solomon's book was very outspoken in condemning what he saw as Solomon's "insinuations" about Norman Rockwell's sexuality. But the things she wrote, the examples she brought up about Rockwell's predilections, were definitely ambiguous. Solomon writes that he always felt more comfortable in the company of men than women but says outright that there were no hints of a sexual dalliances with men. He was married three times, and while the first two were definitely not happy, his third, in his 60's to an unmarried teacher, was successful. Now maybe that's because Molly Rockwell didn't expect much other than companionship...Norman Rockwell was not particularly "personable" in his domestic life. Born in 1894, the younger of two sons, Norman was not close to his birth family. His father died relatively young and his mother - a hypochondriac - lived well into old age. Keeping this woman at bay while providing for her financially all her life was difficult. He managed to not stay involved with her, as well as with his older brother. Was he close to his three sons by his second wife? I didn't get the impression he was from Solomon's book. Married three times; divorced from his first wife and widowed by his second, his third wife out lived him. He lived many years in Arlington, Vermont, he relocated to Stockbridge, Massachusetts to have his second wife - an alcoholic - treated at the Austin Riggs clinic. But Rockwell himself was treated by doctors there, too, including the famed analyst Erik Erikson.But what about his art?. He always claimed to be an "illustrator" but I think most people think of him as an artist. Certainly different in his works of "realism"  than the works of other, more modernist artists, he appreciated the works of de Kooning, Pollock, and others of his time. He was successful for 60 years and his art followed the small-town America he lived in (though born and raised in and near New York City) most of his life. One of the most interesting facts about Norman Rockwell were his political leanings as revealed late in life. He called himself an "Eisenhower Republican" but voted for John Kennedy in 1960. He was sympathetic to the 1960's political and social upheavals, particularly the Civil Rights movement. And although he found faces to draw from his small-town neighbors, he enjoyed spending time in southern California and was a world traveler.Deborah Solomon's biography manages to be as interesting as the subject himself. This book is well worth reading. Also worth the trip is a visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum outside Stockbridge, MA.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    GREAT BOOK
  

*by K***D on Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2013*

This was a very enjoyable book for me. I enjoy understanding art, and enjoyed the wonderful insights and history of the works the author presented. I see from other reviews that people either seem to love this book or dispise it, ha! It seems like the main reason for the latter sentiment is the homosexual tint that is aluded to in the book. I too get sick of the current trend of our society to try and paint everyone in that way, and Norman Rockwell is a much beloved Icon that people resent being besmirched, but in this case I think to much offense was taken.  This is the only book I have read on Norman Rockwell and so I can't compare it to some of the others mentioned, but found this to be a very full overview of his works, with a many ilustrations. It was also interesting to hear how his works were perceived in their own  time as well as a very interesting visit into the life and historical times of our country Mr Rockwell lived in and chronicled. It was also a very compelling read as His own life was of such human interest. This is a book I look forward to sharing with my book club.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Who Was Norman Rockwell, Really?
  

*by D***O on Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2013*

Solomon's biography is first-rate in many ways.  She writes in a breezy, approachable style devoid of art world jargon.  She thoroughly covers Rockwell's life, including his many quirks (among them his cleanliness compulsion and hypochondria), his routines (his steadfastness in his studio and his plain, unyielding dietary habits), his marriages (troubled and difficult until his last), his friendships (almost all with men and particularly with Erik Erikson), and his working style (props, models, and meticulous detail).Along the way, Solomon furnishes insightful interpretations of Rockwell's pictures and how he created them that add to your appreciation of his best paintings.  She also explores earlier illustrators and artists who influenced him.And, while some have found this disconcerting, perhaps even foolish, Solomon speculates on his sexuality and homoeroticism in his art and acquaintances.  Readers can draw their own conclusions as to his sexuality and the influence it may have had on his work (which is the reason to ponder the question, less from prurience and idle curiosity and more for greater understanding and appreciation).Solomon often refers to Rockwell's own struggle with illustration vs. art.  Did he draw illustrations or did he create art?  Should he stop illustrating and venture into art?  Though many, probably Solomon too, would say he was too close to his work, maybe too intimidated by the culture keepers, to see that he in fact did create a body of art admired by the common man, the subject of his paintings, and artists (such as de Kooning) alike.  That he worked best, and really only, on assignment and in the face of a looming deadline diminish his accomplishments not an iota.Solomon calls the world he created Rockwell Land.  It's an imagined America, especially true of his pre-1960s pictures.  People can debate whether Norman Rockwell was an artist; however, there's little doubt that his pictures and the stories they tell (for above all, he was a storyteller on canvas) influenced, still influence, and will continue to influence the American psyche.  He may not have portrayed America as it was and is but he certainly did portray what Americans wished their nation to be; that is a good and bounteous place.Among the best parts of Solomon's biography are her interpretations and analyses of many of Rockwell's well known pictures.  She keeps these as breezy and approachable as the rest of her writing to give viewers a greater appreciation of Rockwell and to help us understand better what draws us into his pictures.  An apt example might be her take on Girl at Mirror (1954), as it also obliquely references homoeroticism.  What follows is the first paragraph leading into several on the painting:"Girl at Mirror remains riveting as an image of ambivalent womanhood, with its sensitively rendered female figure.  Actually, seen from the back, she could be a boy; her left shoulder bulges a bit, and her adjacent trapezius muscle … is also beefy.  But glimpsed from the front–in her mirrored reflection–she is slim and unmistakably girlish.  In other words, there are two girls in the painting.  There's the real girl, perhaps a tomboy, who has sneaked upstairs to the attic with her Movie Spotlight fanzine (do her parents even allow her to read it?), propped a mirror against a chair, and put on her mother's lipstick.  Then there's the other girl, the reflected mirror image that she confronts across a dark divide."  (p. 292, hardcover)Another delight, you'll rediscover some magazine illustrators of an earlier time, all but forgotten now but famous in their day, some friends of Rockwell, and some, such as Howard Pyle, an influence on his work.  If you have an interest at all in illustration, you'll enjoy looking up the likes of J. C. Leyendecker (Arrow Collar Man), Coles Phillips (the Fade-Away Girl), and others.All in all, an insightful and enjoyable experience, for those who admire Rockwell, as well as those who wonder why all the fuss about a guy who, after all, was just a magazine illustrator.  The fuss, you'll learn, is that he was so much more.  More even than an artist.  And more even than he knew himself.

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*Product available on Desertcart United States of America*
*Store origin: US*
*Last updated: 2026-03-17*