Out of Court and Onto the Auction Block: Norman Rockwell’s Saccharine Works Enter the Art Market’s Blood Stream

January 1, 1970

The record price for Rockwell’s works at auction was set in 2006 when “Breaking Home Ties” sold for $15.4 million. Experts and collectors anticipate this record to be surpassed in [date] when three paintings appear in the Sotheby’s sale… The paintings were on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge on loan for 18 years.

They are consigned by the heirs of Kenneth J. Stuart, owner of Curtis Publishing and the art director of The Saturday Evening Post, where Rockwell’s works frequently appeared as cover art. The paintings were probably given by Rockwell to his generous publisher but when Stuart died in 1993, his three sons and heirs contested Stuart’s will and accused the older brother of taking advantage of their father and improperly using estate assets. The legal dispute lasted for almost two decades.

[Images of the works]

Source: The New York Times (September 19, 2013).

“Walking to Church” (1953)

“The Gossip” (1948)