Rockwell painting sale brings $10.2 million to Club, Institute

The sale of the Club's Norman Rockwell painting, "Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor," brought in $10.2 million at an auction by Christie's in New York.

The price was within Christie's estimate of $10 million to $15 million, though Club members who had gathered to watch the auction got concerned when bidding temporarily stopped at $5 million before resuming its upward climb.

"When it cleared $9 million people whooped. When it went over $10 million they went crazy." Club Manager Bill McCarren said.

Seventy percent of the proceeds will go to the Club and 30 percent will go to the nonprofit National Press Club Journalism Institute.

"The sale is fantastic news for the Club and the Institute because both entities will have additional resources to carry out their missions for many years to come," Club President John Hughes said.

The Rockwell painting appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on May 25, 1946. The Club's newsletter in 1962 and 1963 referred to the artwork as a gift from the legendary magazine. When Rockwell himself spoke at the Club in 1967, the moderator of the event made reference to the painting.

The boards of the Club and Institute voted Oct. 1 to sell the artwork. The painting had risen so much in value that the Club would have had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the artwork from theft, vandalism or aging.

For years, the painting had hung outside the Reliable Source on the 14th floor. Since Nov. 16, that space has been occupied by a replica of the artwork.

"The sale of the painting of a small-town America newsroom in the 20th century will sustain missions of the Club and Institute to support journalism for many decades to come in the 21st century," Hughes said. "What a great legacy for Norman Rockwell."