Norman Rockwell’s famous work, Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor, sold for $10.2 million during an auction last week at Christie’s. Proceeds from the sale will be split between painting’s former owner, the National Press Club, and the National Press Club Journalism Institute.
A day before the auction, OPC members were invited to view the work and enjoy cocktails at Christie’s.
Guests viewed this work along with others up for auction. Several smaller Rockwell works were also on display.
In the viewing room next to the painting, a photographer took photos of guests and sigitally superimposed their faces alongside the photo of an iconic pipe-smoking Normal Rockwell that the artist had used as a reference for the painting.
Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on May 25, 1946. According to The National Press Club’s newsletter in 1962 and 1963, the artwork as gift from the Post.
In a National Press Club release following the sale, club president John Hughes cheered the results of the auction.
“The sale of the painting of a small-town America newsroom in the 20th Century will sustain missions of the Club and Institute to support journalism for many decades to come in the 21st Century,” he said. “What a great legacy for Norman Rockwell.”