National Press Club Sells Rockwell Painting For $11M

NEW YORK (AP) — Norman Rockwell’s painting of a small-town American newsroom has sold at auction for $11.5 million.

Christie’s says “Norman Rockwell Visits a Country Editor” was purchased by an anonymous bidder on the phone. It’s the fourth-highest price for a work by Rockwell at auction.

The proceeds will benefit the National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute. The institute offers scholarships and training to journalists.

The work appeared in the May 25, 1946, issue of the Saturday Evening Post. It was later donated to the Washington-based NPC, where it’s been on display for the past 17 years.

It depicts a bustling newsroom at the Monroe County Appeal, a weekly founded in 1867 in Paris, Missouri. Rockwell pictured himself in it with a portfolio under his arm.

Rockwell’s “Saying Grace” sold for $46 million in 2013.