Willie Gillis, Jr. (more commonly simply Willie Gillis) is a fictional character created by Norman Rockwell for a series of World War II paintings that appeared on the covers of 11 issues of The Saturday Evening Post between 1941 and 1946.[1] Gillis was an everyman with the rank of private[2] whose career was tracked on the cover of the Post from induction through discharge without being depicted in battle.[3] He and his girlfriend were modeled by two of Rockwell's acquaintances.[4][5]
Gillis was not exclusively used on Post covers, but the Willie Gillis series of covers was a hallmark of Rockwell's wartime work.[1] Rockwell was in his prime, and the Post was at the peak of its popularity with a subscribership of four million; many of those subscribers believed that Gillis was a real person.[6] Rockwell's wartime art contributed to the success of the wartime bond sales efforts, including Willie Gillis, the Four Freedoms, and Rosie the Riveter.[7]
The Gillis series has been included in two major Rockwell tours since 1999. It toured as part of a Rockwell Post cover art retrospective from 1999 to 2002,[8] and as part of a 1940s World War II Rockwell art exhibition from 2006 to 2010.[9][10]
- ^ a b "Norman Rockwell's Wartime Covers" (Press release). Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on March 9, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
- ^ "'Willie Gillis' makes a return visit to the USO". jdnews.com. Freedom Communications, Inc. April 11, 2006. Archived from the original on April 16, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
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