Despite being one of the most famous artists of his day, Norman Rockwell was a modest man rarely, if ever, included himself in any of his works – save for the small cameo inclusions. In 1960, Rockwell broke that mold and created on of his most famous and iconic pieces – a self portrait image making him the rare subject of his piece. This brilliant piece shows Rockwell sitting on a stool in modest tan pants and a blue-collared shirt with his back to the “camera”. Rockwell is shown leaning to his left so the viewer can see the un-finished self-portrait, while gazing into an adjacent mirror with a pipe on the left side of his mouth. The mirror shows him looking back with his glasses covered in fog. Rockwell explained in an interview why he painted his glasses to look opaque “I had to show that my glasses were fogged, and that I couldn’t actually see what I looked like – a homely, lanky fellow – and therefore, I could stretch the truth just a bit and paint myself looking more suave and debonair than I actually am.” This image is part of this offered lot that has a signed index card from the legendary Norman Rockwell. Rockwell’s black pen signature is matted and centered on this framed piece with the Self Portrait Image above. This comes with a LOA from JSA for the signature.

Auction Notepad