Existing comment:
Mead Schaeffer
Paratrooper, 1942
Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, September 12, 1942
Norman Rockwell and Mead Schaeffer were neighbors and friends who shared models and scrutinized each other's work. Both artists sought to contribute their talents to the war effort and traveled together to present their wartime sketches to government official in Washington, D.C. After being turned down, they stopped in Philadelphia to see Post editor Ben Hibbs, who commissioned their work. Schaeffer abandoned the romantic and literary themes that had been his focus before the war, and embraced instead the reportorial spirit of the Post. |