SALT LAKE CITY – Nearly two dozen of Norman Rockwell’s original paintings are on display at the LDS Church History Museum in downtown Salt Lake City, and it’s all in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the partnership between the Boy Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
LDS officials worked with the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas to bring the paintings to Salt Lake City.
Museum Educator Angela Fisher said the exhibit also features magazine covers designed by Rockwell.
"Visitors can come and see 23 original Rockwell paintings, along with other Boys' Life covers that he designed,” she said. "Visitors will love coming here and seeing everyday boys doing everyday boy things. There's boys going on camping trips, there's boys doing good turns for others."
Rockwell was not a Boy Scout, but the BSA gave him his start as an illustrator.
"In 1912 he became an artist for them,” Fisher said. “At just 18 years of age, he began doing covers for them. He became an art editor shortly afterward, and then he left that post to accept other commissions, most notably for The Saturday Evening Post and later on started doing these Boy Scout paintings again for the Boy Scouts of America."
Rockwell created one painting every year for the scouts and their calendar.
"This is truly an honor to have these Rockwell paintings here,” Fisher said. “They represent an important part of America. Norman Rockwell was an American icon really for depicting an America that people believed in, that they hoped in."
In addition to the Rockwell paintings, the museum also has other works of art and memorabilia featuring the scouts on display.
The exhibit will be on display until December 31, and admission is free. For more information, click here.
