Telling Stories: From the Collections of George Lucas & Steven Spielberg

Telling Stories, based on the Rockwell collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, is the first book to chart the connections between Rockwell’s iconic depictions of American life and the movies. Rockwell, the quintessential American mythmaker of the 20th century, was a storyteller on a par with the great Hollywood directors of his time, and touched the lives of the two most successful directors of our day. Within Rockwell’s art, the fantasies and foibles of ordinary people are given life, central among them the themes of love of country, the sanctity of family, and the value of personal honor. Telling Stories, which accompanied an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, includes 118 full-color illustrations and 25 black-and-white illustrations of Rockwell images, photographs, and film stills.

Virginia M. Mecklenburg is a senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Among her books are Modern Masters, Edward Hopper: The Watercolors, and Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, which won the Alfred H. Barr Jr. award in 1997.

Hardcover, 252 pages.