Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) Nude Life Drawing from Art Students League...

PROPERTY FROM THE ROBISON FAMILY COLLECTION, AUSTIN
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
Nude Life Drawing from Art Students League
signed 'NPR' (lower left)
charcoal on paper
24 7/8 x 19 in. (63.2 x 48.3 cm.)
Executed in 1912.
Provenance
David Liu, Glen Head, New York.
Taylor Richard Robison (1968-2001), Columbus, Ohio, acquired from the above.
By descent to the present owner from the above, 2001.

Literature
S.H. Plunkett, J. Kowalski, L.H. Mitchell, Norman Rockwell Drawings, 1911-1976, New York, 2022, p. 48, no. 2.6, illustrated. (as Figure Drawing)

The present lot appears in the Norman Rockwell Online Catalogue Raisonné, the Definitive Catalogue of the artist's work originally compiled by Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell Museum, Director/CEO.

George Bridgman (1864-1943) was renowned for his drawing and anatomy courses at the Art Students League. The present work was executed by Rockwell in 1912 in Bridgman's classroom. Reflecting on his studies in his autobiography, Rockwell recalls, "After his opening colloquy with me Mr. Bridgeman would rummage a huge piece of Russian charcoal out of the box containing his supplies which I held out to him and, starting at one end of the row farthest from the door, would criticize each seat. Then he'd study my meticulous drawing, on which I'd been working very carefully with a finely pointed piece of charcoal all week. After a minute, he'd burst out, "You haven't got the main line of action. Look here. Down through the hip." And he'd demonstrate, charcoaling a heavy black line down the center of my drawing..." (as quoted in My Adventures as an Illustrator, New York, 1944, p. 58).