The National Museum of American Illustrators is located in Newport, Rhode Island. John has been a fan of American illustrators  JC Leyendecker, N.C Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parish, and Norman Rockwell for forever. We had visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Connecticut 14 years ago so the opportunity to see the largest collection of work by the artists who inspired him was very exciting. Visiting in the off season meant we needed to book a private tour and it was worth every penny as we received a personal tour from the museums founder and director Laurence Cutler. We stayed much longer than we were meant to and had more fun than we could have imagined, but still, five and a half hours was just not enough time to take it all in.

Below is a photo of John & I in front of the original JC Leyendecker painting ‘The Dancers’, painted for a 1930’s Arrow Collars advertisement. John has owned a print of this since he was in his 20’s and had it framed for me for my 50th birthday party – the dance party of the 1/2 century! I got a little teary standing in front of the original. Also pictured is John & I with our gracious host Laurence Cutler (standing in front of a Maxfield Parrish) and us walking the Cliff Walk in the snow.

https://www.americanillustration.org/museum.html