“Norman came to Stockbridge. He needed a photographer. He hired me.”
That is how Henry W. (Bill) Scovill describes his begin as Norman Rockwell’s official photographer. The 40-year-old Scovill, who took the photographs showing on this web page [in 1954] and in addition within the Saturday Evening Post, has labored with Rockwell because the latter moved to Stockbridge from Vermont final yr.
Contrary to fashionable perception, many famous artists use pictures as time-savers when portray, as a substitute of posing their topics “for lengthy sittings.” Also, pictures allow fast motion “to be frozen” and later translated onto the canvas.
Rockwell, in response to Scovill, makes use of photographs virtually completely when engaged on Post covers.
Rockwell goes to infinite lengths to excellent his covers by way of images, Scovill reveals. For instance, final Easter’s cowl alone entailed 90 completely different pictures in seven separate places and two completely different fashions used; and on the finish, the quilt was revised 4 occasions earlier than Rockwell thought of it satisfactory.
Rockwell and Scovill go “on location” regularly to take pictures for covers and for the quite a few business work completed by the artist for nationwide firms. Berkshire County has been utilized in many of those, and Scovill sees no probability of native scenes and topics ever operating out.
Scovill stories he knew little about images till he got here to Stockbridge a number of years in the past. He praises Howard Babbitt Jr. of Pittsfield for educating him the basics of the artwork. His affiliation with Rockwell, provides Scovill, has given him a singular “postgraduate” course in images.
In addition to the Rockwell job, Scovill is on the workers of the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, the place he’s an teacher in images.
His specialty, nonetheless, is personnel work. He has an M.A. diploma in scientific psychology from Yale University, and a background of three years’ personnel expertise with the Bell Telephone Laboratories.