Norman Rockwell is considered "the most popular American artist" of the twentieth century, according to art historian Karal Ann Marling writing in American Enterprise. His illustrations of idealized, nostalgia-evoking American scenes--most of which appeared as covers for the Saturday Evening Post between 1916 and 1963--made him a tremendous popular success. It has been estimated that Rockwell's pictures have been seen by more people than have seen the combined works of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Picasso. But the always-modest Rockwell considered himself to be an illustrator rather than an artist. "Some people have been kind enough to call me a fine artist," he once wrote. "I've always called myself an illustrator. I'm not sure what the difference is. All I know is that whatever type of work I do, I try to give it my very best. Art has been my life."

As Arthur C. Danto noted in the Nation, what...