Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978). The Spirit of 1976 study, circa 1976. Oil on board. 14 x 10-1/4 inches (35.6 x 26...

Description

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978)
The Spirit of 1976 study, circa 1976
Oil on board
14 x 10-1/4 inches (35.6 x 26.0 cm)

Property from the BSA Settlement Trust, Sold for the Benefit of Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

LITERATURE:
W. Hillcourt, Norman Rockwell's World of Scouting, New York, 1977, p. 125, illustrated;
L.N. Moffatt, Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue, Vol. I, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1986, p. 296-97, no. A98a, illustrated.

For Norman Rockwell's final Boy Scouts calendar painting, he took inspiration from the famous painting by Archibald M. Willard, The Spirit of '76 (1876) (Fig. 1). Arguably one of the most iconic American images of the 19th century, in the collection of the Marblehead Historical Commission, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Willard's monumental painting commemorated the centennial celebrations in Philadelphia in 1876. A century later, to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Rockwell selected Willard's composition as his theme for the Boy Scouts' calendar painting, simultaneously marking his retirement as the Boy Scouts of America illustrator that year.

The subject work is one of the oil sketches Rockwell produced in preparation for the final calendar painting. Rockwell's rendition swapped the Revolutionary figures in Willard's original composition with Scouts of various order, a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout and an Explorer scout, each a nod to the different divisions of scouting that represented the organization. In the foreground of this sketch, a crowd lines the trail beside the procession of musicians, one such figure extends his hand waving a hat in ceremonial cheer. This gesture echoes the fallen figure seen in the foreground of Willard's painting, his in contrast a fallen American solider waving his cap in resolve and exhaustion just as his side claims victory in the war.

This calendar concluded Rockwell's 64-year career with the Boy Scouts of America whereupon he passed the torch to the organization's new Scout artist and Rockwell's confidant, Joseph Csatari. Csatari built on this theme with his first commissioned work as the new Boy Scouts illustrator titled, The New Spirit (Lot 53016), paying homage to Rockwell's legacy and the new future of scouting.


More information about Norman Rockwell. See also: Rockwell, Norman, Rockwell, Norman Perceval Artist.

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