I have never seen that last work you posted of violence in #30. Can you tell me more about it? The stoic image on the white man's face as he faces the shadows of the attackers is quite powerful. I don't see that on the cover of the Post (and the proportions are wrong).
Rockwell did a series of civil rights paintings - this is by far the darkest. Which is why I chose it - to show that he's far from "just an illustrator."
The use of color (or lack thereof, except for the splash of red on the kneeling man's shirt) and lighting is spectacular.
It's in the museum at Stockbridge.
By the end of the decade, he was in his seventies, and his skill began to deteriorate. His later paintings are far more impressionistic. This was partly a style decision, and partly (IMHO) as an artist, because his eyesight and hand skills were fading. By the mid-seventies, he was in serious decline, not recognizing many of his friends, but continued to paint until a few months before his death.
During his prime, Rockwell maintained a rigid schedule, usually painting about twelve hours a day. He had a mirror placed over the door to his studio so he could see people who were coming to call, and if he didn't want to see them, he simply didn't answer the door. Rockwell described himself as an illustrator, rather than an artist, and was, as many painters are, very reclusive. The art director of the Saturday Evening Post had one of Rockwell's paintings in his office, and whenever illustrators would pressure the director for more money, he would take their painting and prop it on the wall next to Rockwell's, (he had a credenza set up specifically for this purpose), then stand back and look at the painting, furrowing his eyebrows and stroking his chin. It was an effective way to keep the price down on other artist's work.