Norman Rockwell 1894 - 1978

Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1955 (commissioned directly from the artist)
Wesley Middleton, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1957 (award from the above for winning "Pharmacist of the Year")
Metropolitan Art Associates, 1979 (acquired from the above)
Collier Art Corporation (sold: 12th Annual Bexar County Pharmaceutical Association Charity Art Auction, August 30, 1981)
Acquired by the present owners' father at the above sale

Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue, vol. 1, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1986, no. A828, p. 569, illustrated p. 568

Very good condition, lined. Under UV: one pin dot of retouch in pants, otherwise fine.
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Over the course of his career Norman Rockwell accepted commercial commissions from over 150 companies. From 1929 to 1961, Rockwell created images for the advertising campaigns of three healthcare firms: The Upjohn Company, Lambert Pharmacal, and American Optical. Like the nostalgic covers he created for The Saturday Evening Post, Rockwell's commercial imagery incorporated immediately recognizable scenes of everyday life, and his healthcare advertisements inspired Americans to view their pharmaceutical and healthcare providers with confidence. When Upjohn hired Rockwell in the late 1930s, the focus of research at the company had shifted from medicines made largely from plant-based products to ones derived from animal extracts and chemicals. This shift presented a marketing challenge as the company endeavored to shape public opinion and reassure Americans of the safety of these new types of medication. Searching for a way to bolster support from both medical professionals and the public, Upjohn executives hired the immensely popular Rockwell to prepare images for their national advertising campaign.

The Pharmacist, painted in 1955, was one of the last images Rockwell produced for the firm. Some of the artist's Upjohn images were featured in magazines, others, including The Pharmacist, were reproduced for doctor's office displays. While Rockwell did not always have full control over the design of other advertising campaigns, Upjohn gave the artist latitude to express himself, offering flexible guidelines for each advertisement. Rockwell would then submit one or more charcoal studies of his ideas for Upjohn's approval before proceeding to the painting stage. In the present work Rockwell depicts a pharmacist dispensing liquid into a graduate. He was instructed to position the bottle in the subject's right hand so that the Upjohn label would not be visible, as it was common practice for pharmacists to protect the labels from messy drips. Upjohn also asked Rockwell to include specific details, including a wide assortment of the company's pharmaceuticals, an Upjohn price book, the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, and the National Dispensary. The balance of Rockwell's composition, the highly organized collection of medicines, and the familiarity of the scene all work to communicate Upjohn's message of trust, reinforced by its association with one of America's most beloved artists.