Boy Lifting Weights by Norman Rockwell

April 29, 1922 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post

Boy Lifting Weights, this Norman Rockwell painting, appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post published April 29, 1922...
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The alternate title for this painting is It's Easy to Be a Man.

This painting was Rockwell's forty-seventh overall picture featured on the cover of The Post and the fourth Rockwell cover in 1922. The Post featured a Rockwell illustration on its cover ten times in 1922.

Boy Lifting Weights

Norman Rockwell uses this painting to show us one of the questions of boyhood. "What does it take to be a man?"

Of course, the simple answer is presented here in the mind of the boy in the painting.

Here we see a boy attempting to increase his size and muscularity. He is lifting weights. The inscription on his muscle shirt is telling. "CHAMP" implies that he has some athletic goal in mind. He is not just attempting to impress a member of the fairer sex.

The chair behind the young man impresses us with his sense of urgency. His trousers and jacket are both in the chair. They have not even been hung up after wearing. His school books are on top of his clothes. Obviously he has rushed home, changed into his workout clothes in a hurry and is now concentrating on the task at hand.

The poster pinned on the wall shows a muscular man. The man's physique and attire are almost reminiscent of a caveman, albeit a clean shaven one. My apologies if that offends any cavemen out there! I didn't know you guys were still around!

The slogan on the poster "IT'S EASY... BE A MAN" is, of course, absurd. Changing what your body looks like may be fairly simple, but it requires a time and effort commitment that is not necessarily "easy."

The card pinned beside the caveman (sorry!) poster shows six different exercises for the aspiring would-be man to repeat. Following this regimen would help the boy to at least be muscular.

Rockwell didn't tackle the finer points of becoming a man in this painting. He focused on the humorous simplicity of this situation.

And, of course, the boy's dog is wondering what all the fuss is about...
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