Newport Museum to Auction Norman Rockwell JFK Portrait

A Norman Rockwell portrait of a thoughtful John F. Kennedy is being auctioned off by the National Museum of American Illustration in Newport.

The portrait, painted in Rockwell’s final year of painting covers for the Saturday Evening Post, was published on the cover of the April 6, 1963 issue.

The painting reflects Rockwell’s transition to more politically-oriented work in his later years. Though he is remembered best for his iconic images of idyllic American life in the 1950s, Rockwell’s brush also captured some of the most important and influential figures of the time.

In a statement, Judy Goffman Cutler, museum director, said the sale of the painting will support the museum.

The painting will be auctioned at the museum’s annual gala on July 30.

Cutler said that the portrait is of a man with deep ties to Newport.

“[He] married Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in 1953 just 1 mile from the NMAI, and summered here during his presidency at Hammersmith Farm, or the “Summer White House.’” she said. “It seems appropriate for this heartfelt portrait of America’s Camelot to be sold for the benefit of the NMAI the first National Museum to display and honor American Illustration, the most American of American Art.”

The auction will also feature works from J.C. Leyendecker, Howard Chandler Christy, Ludwig Bemelmans and Maxfield Parrish.

The painting is expected to sell for $4 to $6 million and the opening bid is $600,000.

“The second of two Kennedy portraits, and actually the last portrait of President Kennedy completed by Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post, this depiction reflects a strong, intelligent, experienced leader fighting for American ideals in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis,” a release stated. “By using a three-quarter-portrait pose with his head resting on his hand against a dark background, Rockwell beautifully relays the heaviness of the President’s decisions to the viewer.”

Bidding on items at the Petite Auction will open online two weeks prior to the 15th Anniversary Gala (July 30th 2015), and will conclude in a Live Auction at the event on July 30th. Proceeds will benefit the NMAI and its mission to educate the global public through exhibitions of artworks by the greatest of the Golden Age American Illustrators.

The museum is located at Vernon Court, 492 Bellevue Ave. For more information call 401-851-8949 or email art@americanillustration.org

Photo caption: Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Portrait of John F. Kennedy, 1963, oil on canvas, 22” x 18”, signed lower right, Saturday Evening Post, April 6, 1963 cover.