We here at The Victoria B & B are super excited to have AMERICAN CHRONICLES: THE ART OF NORMAN ROCKWELL at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The Victoria B & B is the closest lodging to this world class museum, adjoining the pedestrian entrance.

Norman Percevel Rockwell, born in New York City on Feb 3, 1894, was one of the most popular American artist of the past century. He received his first commission at age 17. At age 22, the newly married Rockwell painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post. In all, he painted 323 covers for the Post. Some of his most iconic covers included the 1927 celebration of Charles Lindbergh's crossing of the Atlantic. While working for other magazines, Rockwell featured a cover in Look depicting the imprint of Neil Armstrong's left foot on the surface of the moon after the successful moon landing.  In 1930, he married Mary Barstow and had three sons. Then in 1939, The Rockwells relocated to Arlington, Vermont where the new world that greeted Norman offered the perfect material for the artist to draw from. He was dismissed by some critics for not having "real artistic merit", but Rockwell's reasons for painting what he did were grounded in the world around him.  Rockwell once stated, "Maybe as I grew up and found the world wasn't the perfect place I had thought it to be, I unconsciously decided that if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be, and so I painted only the ideal aspects of it"!

Still, Rockwell didn't completely ignore the issues of the day. Inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1943 he painted the Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from want and Freedom from Fear. The paintings appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post and proved incredibly popular. The paintings toured the US and raised $130 million toward the war efforts. Later in his life he went to work for Look where he began to change his focus in his work. much of his work centered on themes concerning poverty, race and the Vietnam War. Before his death, Rockwell created a trust to ensure his artistic legacy would live on long after his passing. A year before his death, Rockwell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. He passed away on November 8,1978.

We are located two short blocks north of the Historic Downtown Bentonville square. Call or email us here at The Victoria B & B to book your reservation. You won't want to miss seeing this incredible exhibition AMERICAN CHRONICLES: THE ART OF NORMAN ROCKWELL on display now through May the 27th!