ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Imprinted: Illustrating Race examines the role of published images in shaping attitudes toward race and culture. Over 300 artworks and objects on view of widely circulated illustrated imagery will be on view, produced from the late eighteenth century to today, which have an impact on public perception about race in the United States. The exhibition will explore stereotypical racial representations that have been imprinted upon us through the mass publication of images. It culminates with the creative accomplishments of contemporary artists and publishers who have shifted the cultural narrative through the creation of positive, inclusive imagery emphasizing full agency and equity for all.
Co-curated by University of Delaware Professor of Visual Communications, and Interim Director of the MFA in Illustration Practice program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), guest Curator Robyn Phillips Pendleton, who has written and spoken widely on the theme of this exhibition, and by noted scholar in American illustration, the Museumâs Deputy Director/Chief Curator Stephanie Haboush Plunkett. They are joined by a distinguished National Exhibition Advisory Committee of 10 academic scholars, curators, and artists with expertise related to the focus of the exhibitionâs thesis.
ABOUT THE FERRIN CONTEMPORARY HISTORICAL COLLECTION
Imprinted: Illustrating Race includes works from the Ferrin Contemporary Historical Collection as well as recent contemporary works from Ferrin Contemporary artists. The collection includes souvenir objects and plates, designed and produced in England in the 19th and early 20th century, Made in Occupied Japan, and later produced in America. These objects were exhibited at the Normal Rockwell Museum in the 2023 location of “Imprinted”, and in Ferrin Contemporary’s traveling exhibition, “Our America/Whose America” (2022 & 2024).
“Cumbrian Blue(s) New American Scenery, A Souvenir of Selma AL” by Ferrin Contemporary artist Paul Scott is an example of one of the contemporary works included in Imprinted: Illustrating Race which seeks to reference objects in the Ferrin Contemporary’s Historical Collection. The piece celebrates the 2018 anniversary walk in Selma, AL– the annual even commemorating “Bloody Sunday”, March 7 1965, when John Lewis & Hosea Williams led 525 peaceful civil rights protestors across the bridge in Selma. En-route to Montgomery, they were stopped by State Troopers and Sheriffâs Deputies, who brutally set upon them, indiscriminately gassing + beating men, women, & children. This piece, and the contemporary light it shines on an important turning point in American history, presents concepts that the exhibition serves to highlight through illustrative transferware.
RECENT LOCATIONS
INSTALLATION PHOTOS
EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION
The Norman Rockwell Museum assembled Imprinted: Illustrating Race with co-curator Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, a professor at the University of Delaware. The exhibition honors Rockwellâs powerful images supporting the Civil Rights Movement, displaying his work within a sweeping historical survey of American illustration that features illustrators including Romare Bearden, Emory Douglas, Howard Pyle, and Loveis Wise.
Illustration has been at the forefront of defining events in the United States, from the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era to the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, moving forward to today. Imprinted examines widely circulated imagery, conceived and published over the course of more than three centuries, which has reflected and shaped perceptions of race across time.
Featuring over 200 artworks commissioned by publishers and advertisers, the exhibition traces harmful and prolific stereotypical representations of race that were historically sanctioned and prominently featured in newspapers, magazines, and books, on trade cards, posters, and advertisements, and on packaging and products. Imprinted also celebrates the concerted efforts of 20th and 21st century artists and editors to shift the cultural narrative through the publicationâin print and across digital platformsâof positive, inclusive imagery emphasizing full agency and equity for all.
In assembling this show the Norman Rockwell Museum consulted a national advisory board of artists and scholars, including DelArt Curator of American Art Heather Campbell Coyle, who also contributed to the exhibition catalogue. While Imprinted is on view at DelArt, the Norman Rockwell Museum is hosting Jazz Age Illustration from November 8, 2025 to April 6, 2026.
PAST PROGRAMMING
Imprinted: Illustrating Race Guided Tours
ABOUT THE DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
The Delaware Art Museum connects people to art, offering an inclusive and essential community resource that through its collections, exhibitions, and programs, generates creative energy that sustains, enriches, empowers, and inspires.
Founded in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum has existed as an institution of both esteem and power. We acknowledge and do not shy away from our complicity in a legacy of exclusion. We are committed to changing the power structure, silence, and systems that have historically driven that exclusivity.
The Delaware Art Museum is inclusive, equitable, and welcoming. We are nimble and flexible in the face of change, endeavoring to always be of public value, and center community voices.
The Museum staff and board are committed to moving forward with a clear vision and values rooted in equal opportunity, co-creation, and respect in decision making. Our deepest work is to be a community anchor. We lead with empathy, never forgetting our responsibility to listen, learn, and embrace all perspectives.
INSTALLATION PHOTOS
CONTEMPORARY WORKS
FEATURED ARTISTS
Featuring work by Paul Scott, Garth Johnson, Elizabeth Alexander, and objects from the Ferrin Contemporary Collection.
Additional works & collections featured in the exhibition Our America/Whose America?
EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION
Imprinted: Illustrating Race examines the role of published images in shaping attitudes toward race and culture. Over 300 artworks and objects on view of widely circulated illustrated imagery will be on view, produced from the late eighteenth century to today, which have an impact on public perception about race in the United States. The exhibition will explore stereotypical racial representations that have been imprinted upon us through the mass publication of images. It culminates with the creative accomplishments of contemporary artists and publishers who have shifted the cultural narrative through the creation of positive, inclusive imagery emphasizing full agency and equity for all.
Co-curated by University of Delaware Professor of Visual Communications, and Interim Director of the MFA in Illustration Practice program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), guest Curator Robyn Phillips Pendleton, who has written and spoken widely on the theme of this exhibition, and by noted scholar in American illustration, the Museumâs Deputy Director/Chief Curator Stephanie Haboush Plunkett. They are joined by a distinguished National Exhibition Advisory Committee of 10 academic scholars, curators, and artists with expertise related to the focus of the exhibitionâs thesis.
PAST PROGRAMMING
ONLINE SYMPOSIUM: Illustration and Race: Rethinking the History of Printed Images
September 23 – 24, 2022
Compelling conversations with illustrators, art directors, authors, and scholars will explore more than three hundred years of racial representation in published art and the role of mass-circulated imagery as a force in shaping public perception about people and groups of people. Presented in conjunction with Imprinted: Illustrating Race, the Museumâs current exhibition, this symposium will spark dialogue about the ways that art, advertising, and systems of publishing have helped to frame public opinion, and how the art of illustration has become a force for change today.
Join us for all or part of the symposium.
More information can be found here.
Welcome and Opening Program
September 23, 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Hidden in Plain Sight: Illustrated Ceramics and American Identity
September 23, 7:30 pm – 8:45 pm
Moderator: Leslie Ferrin
Panelists: Elizabeth Alexander, Jacqueline Bishop, Judy Chartrand, Niki Johnson, Paul Scott
Hidden in plain sight, illustrations on porcelain and ceramic ware have, throughout history, transformed functional objects into message-bearers for a wide range of political and propagandistic causes, whether exchanged by heads of state or acquired for use or display in domestic settings. Leslie Ferrin of Ferrin Contemporary will discuss the imagery, drawn from popular nineteenth century prints, that was reproduced on widely distributed ceramics portraying historical events, indigenous people, and notable explorers, inventors, and politicians through a white European lens. The panel will explore how these seemingly ordinary objects have helped to establish firmly held beliefs about American identity. Artists Elizabeth Alexander, Jacqueline Bishop, Judy Chartrand, Niki Johnson and Paul Scott will discuss their work in contemporary ceramics, which reject systems of racial oppression and invite reconsideration of the sanitized version of history that was presented for generations.
Symposium Presentation and Panels
September 24, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
ABOUT THE NORMAL ROCKWELL MUSEUM
The Norman Rockwell Museum illuminates the power of American illustration art to reflect and shape society, and advances the enduring values of kindness, respect, and social equity portrayed by Norman Rockwell.
Founded in 1969 with the help of Norman and Molly Rockwell, Norman Rockwell Museum is dedicated to the enjoyment and study of Rockwellâs work and his contributions to society, popular culture, and social commentary. The Museum, which is accredited by the American Association of Museums, is the most popular year-round cultural attraction in the Berkshires.
The Museum houses the worldâs largest and most significant collection of Rockwellâs work, including 998 original paintings and drawings. Rockwell lived in Stockbridge for the last 25 years of his life. Rockwellâs Stockbridge studio, moved to the Museum site, is open to the public from May through October, and features original art materials, his library, furnishings, and personal items. The Museum also houses the Norman Rockwell Archives, a collection of more than 100,000 items, including working photographs, letters, personal calendars, fan mail, and business documents.
Having spent its first 24 years at the Old Corner House on Stockbridgeâs Main Street, the Museum moved to its present location, a 36-acre site overlooking the Housatonic River Valley, in 1993. Internationally renowned architect Robert A. M. Stern designed the Museum gallery building.
One of the great charms of the Museum is its location. Many of Rockwellâs world-renowned images were drawn from the surrounding community and its residents. âThe Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, must be one of the most popular museums in the world,â wrote author Paul Johnson, âcrammed from dawn till dusk with delighted visitors crowding round the originals of much-loved paintings. And one of the further pleasures of this enchanting place is that in the nearby little towns you can recognize among the locals the children and grandchildren of those whom Rockwell painted with dedicated veracity.â
EXHIBITION CATALOG
EXHIBITION CATALOG
- The Imprinted: Illustrating Race catalog is available for purchase through the Norman Rockwell Museum Store.
- Exhibition catalogue featuring essays by noted scholars and curators and designed by Hollis King
Imprinted: Illustrating Race Exhibition Catalog by Robyn Phillips-Pendleton and Stephanie Haboush Plunkett. Illustration has been at the forefront of defining events in the United States from the Civil War and Reconstruction Era to the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and today. Imprinted: Illustrating Race examines the role of the published image in shaping attitudes towards race and culture over the course of more than three centuries. This landmark volume accompanies the first comprehensive exhibition on the theme, tracing prolific stereotypical representations of race circulated through mass publication, and highlighting the efforts of twentieth- and twenty-first century artists who have worked intentionally to shift the cultural narrative, emphasizing full agency and equity for all.
Abundantly illustrated, Imprinted: Illustrating Race features essays by noted scholars, curators, and artists, presenting meaningful perspectives on the persuasive power of widely circulated art and design over time. Insightful commentary inspires deep consideration of visual imagery and the messages that are sometimes hidden in plain sight, weather in trade cards and advertisements, books and popular periodicals, or today’s digital screens. An illustrated, introductory essay by Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, whose foundational research has inspired this project, invites consideration of the interconnectivity of art culture, and industry, and the deeply felt presence of visual imagery in our lives.
Robyn Phillips-Pendleton is Professor of Visual Communications in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Delaware, Newark. A practicing illustrator, visual storyteller, designer, and educator, she has exhibited her work widely, is an artist for the United States Air Force Art program, and has created imagery for institutions, editorial magazines, and publishing companies. A member of the Norman Rockwell Museum National Advisory Board for Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms, which traveled internationally, she is also a member of the Board of Directors of New York’s Society of illustrators. Her research focuses on the history of illustration and the influence of published imagery on perceptions of race, and her essay “Race, Perception, and Responsibility in illustration” appears in A Companion to Illustration. Homework for Breakfast is her most recent illustrated picture book.
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett is Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum. The curator of many national and international exhibitions relating to the art of Norman Rockwell and the history of illustration, she leads the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, the nation’s first scholarly institute devoted fully to the study of published art. She has written and spoken widely on the field, and “The Shifting Postwar Marketplace: Illustration in the United States and Canada, 1940-1970” in History of illustration; Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School: Classic Techniques and Expert Tips from the Golden Age of Illustration; and Norman Rockwell: Drawings, 1911-1976 are among her recent publications.
Hardcover, 200 pages. Measures 10″ x 13″ x 1″.
