Woodstock to the Moon: 1969 Illustrated Exhibition

FAIN: GA-268716-19

Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA 01262-9702)
Jesse Kowalski (Project Director: May 2019 to March 2021)

Woodstock to the Moon: 1969 Illustrated is an exhibit to be presented by the Norman Rockwell Museum, which will explore 1969 through objects, the work of American illustrators and videographers whose images both reflected and shaped the American public’s attitudes and behavior. 1969 was a turning point in American history. In that year, Americans landed on the moon. It was also the last year of publication for the Saturday Evening Post, the magazine that brought Norman Rockwell’s vision of America as he thought it should be to American homes each week. By this time, Rockwell had been working for Look Magazine for 5 years, shifting his artistic voice to stand for civics and social justice. He had already painted his iconic civil rights paintings, The Problem We All Live With and Murder in Mississippi, that urged Americans to reconsider views on race, as well as his historic Man’s First Step on the Moon series for Look Magazine which now resides at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, which we plan to include for the exhibit.
Supplanted by TV as the way most Americans got their news, this turning point in American culture from print-based to electronic-based heralded a change in the speed of information dissemination and the proliferation of news sources.
The iconic illustration of a guitar with the white dove perched on a guitar neck that a generation to Woodstock, Rockwell’s moon landing painting, the cover art for Ray Bradbury’s I Sing the Body Electric, and the art for the Broadway smash hit, Hello Dolly, as well as video clips ranging from Laugh In to Sesame Street will tell the story of the momentous change in American culture and decisions the country faced. The exhibit will be on view from June 8- October 27, 2019.