Norman Rockwell’s Two Plumbers sells for $14.9m

Norman Rockwell’s Two Plumbers achieved $14.9m at auction on May 23.

That’s a remarkable figure when you consider it last sold for $882,500 in 1996. That sum was an artist record for a short time (it was surpassed three lots later).

Norman Rockwell Plumbers

Two Plumbers is one of Rockwell's most iconic paintings 

Since that last sale it has achieved annual growth of 14.4%.

It also more than doubled it $7m estimate, accounting for almost half of the $33m spent in the sale.

This iconic painting appeared on the cover of a 1952 edition of the Evening Post, the publication with which Rockwell is most often associated.

It’s a comic scene, showing two plumbers horsing around on the job.

Rockwell’s biographer, Christopher Finch, said: “It is easy to see that had he not been a gifted artist, Norman Rockwell might well have become a successful writer or director for film or television.

“Situation comedy has been one of the most popular genres in both these mediums, and no one has a better knack for inventing comic situations than Rockwell.”

The sale also featured regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton’s Across the Curve of the Road (circa 1938), which made $1.5m.

Regionalism was a US art movement conceived as a reaction to modernism’s perceived elitism and city bias.

Artists like Benton chose America’s small towns and rural backwaters as their subject.

Regionalism was at the height of its influence during the toughest years of the Depression, providing reassurance that the American heartland remained as it always had been in the face of rapid social and technological change.

Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about art and photography auctions.

Featured products

Elvis Presley Authentic Strand of Hair
Elvis Presley Authentic Strand of Hair
Sale price£399
In stock
Fidel Castro signed certificateFidel Castro Signed Certificate
Fidel Castro signed certificate
Sale price£2,995
In stock
King Henry VIII Autographed DocumentKing Henry VIII Autographed Document
King Henry VIII Autographed Document
Sale price£55,000
In stock