Pinnacle of puppetry

”Turkey Gobbler Balloon, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1929,’’ by German-American artist Tony Sarg (1880-1942), in the show “Tony Sarg: Genius at Play,’’ at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass., through Nov. 5

— Photographer unknown, from the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association

The museum says:

The show “is the first comprehensive exhibition exploring the life, art and adventures of Tony Sarg, the charismatic illustrator, animator, puppeteer, designer, entrepreneur and showman who is celebrated as the father of modern puppetry in North America. His vast knowledge of puppet technology was instrumental in his design of the inaugural Thanksgiving Day parade balloon for Macy’s Department Store, in 1927, as well as subsequent parade balloons and automated displays for the company’s festive holiday windows, which were imitated nationwide. The creator of a host of popular consumer goods, from toys and clothing to home décor, Sarg also envisioned fanciful illustrated maps and created mural designs for the Oasis Cafe in New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.’’

Sarg's “Nantucket Sea Serpent,’’ 1937.

— From the Nantucket Historical Association

The famed Austen Riggs Center, in Stockbridge, a mental hospital known for, among things, very quietly treating celebrities.

— Photo by Joe Mabel

The art around our greatest president

Istvan Banyai, “Set in Stone” (cover illustration of The New Yorker, digital), by Istvan Banyai, in the exhibition “The Lincoln Memorial Illustrated,’’ at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass., May 7-Sept. 4, in collaboration with Chesterwood.

The museum says: “Approximately fifty historical and contemporary artworks by noted illustrators and cartoonists will be featured, as will archival photographs, sculptural elements, artifacts and ephemera.” For more information, please visit nrm.org.

Studio and garden at Chesterwood

Photos by I, Daderot

Chesterwood was the summer estate and studio of American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), in Stockbridge. French created the brooding-looking sculpture of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial. Most of French's originally 150-acre estate is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which operates the property as a museum and sculpture garden. The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 in recognition of French's importance in American sculpture.

Inside French’s studio

Call pest control?And treating Norman Rockwell

“Scritchy Scratchy,” by Jan Brett (watercolor on paper, illustration for Gingerbread Friends), in the show “Jan Brett: Stories Near and Far,’’ at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass., through March 6.

Ms. Brett is the author/illustrator of such books for kids as The Mitten, Cozy and Gingerbread Baby. She has homes in the Berkshires and in Norwell, Mass., where she grew up.

The North River, with beautiful marshes, forms the southeast boundary of Norwell.

The famous Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric institution in Stockbridge, the Berkshires town that the famed painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) moved to at least in part because of Riggs, where he and his second wife, Mary Barstow, were both treated for mental illness. His wife, the more seriously ill of the two, suffered from depression and alcoholism and Rockwell from depression and anxiety.

The very expensive Riggs had the reputation of drawing well-known patients and celebrated psychiatrists.

Rockwell once said: "I paint life as I would like it to be.’’

In Stockbridge, Norman Rockwell and civil rights

“The Problem We All Live With” (1963), by Norman Rockwell, at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass.

The museum reports it  is offering virtual exhibits with Google Arts & Culture “themed around civil rights and presidential politics. The exhibits are constructed like presentations, with written information and video to supplement the photos and illustrations each exhibit is centered around.’’

Hit this link for more information.

 “Norman Rockwell in the Age of the Civil Rights Movement ‘‘ explores some of his famous illustrations in support of civil rights: “The Problem We All Live With,’’ “Murder in Mississippi (Southern Justice)’’  and "New Kids in the Neighborhood (Negro in the Suburbs)”.

Meanwhile, “Norman Rockwell: Presidential Elections Illustrated’’ showcases his portraits of presidents and presidential candidates, including John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower and many others. The museum says “Also shown are photographs of Rockwell and the presidents, and notes about his interactions with them. As Rockwell poignantly said, ‘I am no politician and certainly no statesman. But I have painted thousands of people and I should now be a judge of what their faces say about what they are.’’’

Meanwhile, the museum’s show “Presidents, Politics, and the Pen: The Influential Art of Thomas Nast” is a “showcase of the election art of the famous artist, whose politically charged and satirical cartoons often influenced the opinion of the American public, earning him the moniker of ‘The President Maker." ‘

The Austen Riggs Center, in Stockbridge, a psychiatric treatment center famed for its celebrity patients. Norman Rockwell’s second wife was mentally ill, which is a reason that the couple moved to Stockbridge from Vermont.

Stockbridge’s famous Naumkeag Gardens. now part of a museum, around 1908

At Naumkeag, the summer mansion built by powerful New York lawyer Joseph Choate The estate's centerpiece, besides its gardens, is a 44-room, Shingle Style country house designed principally by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, and constructed in 1886 and 1887.

Holiday traditions around the world

Uri Shulevitz, “Lights..., ‘‘ 2013, illustration for Dusk by Uri Shulevitz, (Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux 2013], ink and watercolor on paper, ©2013 by Uri Shulevitz. All rights reserved. ) This is in the show “Cultural Traditions: A Holiday Celebration,’’ at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass., through Feb. 10

The museum says:

“This exhibition uses the art and stories in children's picture books to explore the similarities and differences of holiday traditions throughout the world. Cultural Traditions features over 40 original illustration works of art by six award-winning children's book illustrators. The colorful images brilliantly show the customs and traditions celebrated during Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and the Chinese New Year.’’