Norman Rockwell

(American, 1894-1978)

Study for Happy Birthday Miss Jones

oil on paperboard

initialed NR (lower right); also dedicated and inscribed by the Artist (mat window)

15 3/4 x 15 1/8 in.

The present lot appears in the Norman Rockwell Online Catalogue Raisonné, the Definitive Catalogue of the artist's work originally compiled by Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell Museum, Director/CEO. It is also accompanied by a front cover of the March 17, 1956 Saturday Evening Post, on which the final painting is reproduced.

Provenance:

The Artist.

Collection of Mr. Dwight Davis, Sarasota, Florida, gift from the above, c. 1956.

Estate of Mr. Dwight Davis, Sarasota, Florida.

Lot Essay:

This study is a previously unknown preparatory work for Norman Rockwell’s Happy Birthday Miss Jones (School Teacher), which was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in March 1956. The painting was meant as a tribute to Rockwell’s own eighth-grade teacher who fostered his creative potential. The artist hired a model, Anne Braman, and used a real classroom in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to depict this playful and sentimental scene of everyday life.

The commonplace was Rockwell’s most enduring source of inspiration, so this affectionate portrayal of a schoolteacher in the humble but noble setting of the classroom is quintessentially representative of his aesthetic. However, Miss Jones herself is positioned slightly off center, which suggests that the image is just as much about celebrating the figure of the teacher as it is about bringing attention to the values dear to the American public in the 1950s.

The promise of education, as portrayed by Rockwell and disseminated through publications such as the Saturday Evening Post, was to ensure that the American people would continue to revere the values of patriotism, merit, and decency. These values are embodied here by a well-tuned combination of moral rectitude and light-heartedness. The verticality of Ms. Jones’s standing and towering figure over the horizontal rows of desks is subtly softened by playful details such as her bashful but gratified expression and demeanor, the messily placed items on her desk, and the peripheral bustle just outside the classroom.

Rockwell designed his paintings to be approachable and relatable, with little critical intermediary between the viewer and the image: there was little, if any, ambiguity about its takeaway. This straightforward relationship was reinforced by the context in which his audience encountered those images, thanks to the widespread circulation of magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post. While ubiquitous due to mass distribution, Rockwell’s iconography was often received in the comfortable setting of the home, guaranteeing a very intimate encounter, speaking directly to the psyche of the people.

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978)

Study for Happy Birthday Miss Jones

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978)

Study for Happy Birthday Miss Jones