Curtis Brings Classics to Life

Curtis Publishing, the licensing arm of The Saturday Evening Post, expects Norman Rockwell's art to get a big boost from an upcoming exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibit, "Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg," will open in July and run until January 2011.

"Rockwell is a classic and always does well, but we anticipate even more interest in his art," said Cris Piquinela, director of business development for Curtis. "There's always a big surge of interest with museum shops and gift shops when a major exhibit hits." Curtis Publishing has been licensing the Post's wide range of images around the world for more than 30 years.

Curtis' collection was originally comprised of cover illustrations from The Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines, but the company dug deeper and found thousands of copyrighted front covers, as well as inside illustrations from its child publications, Jack & Jill and Child Life. FDV Artfolio has licensed images from Jack & Jill for a line of wall art that will soon hit the market.

The Leading Ladies line, a collection of vintage illustrations of women introduced last year, continues to be a hot property for Curtis. This year, the company added a few hundred images to the collection and created seasonal images.

Demdaco's Silvestri Seasonal division picked up some of those images for a line of ornaments and serveware that will debut for holiday 2011. "Silvestri has such a long-standing tradition of quality," said Piquinela. "We are really happy to be working with them."

Enesco will launch Boyd's Bears figurines—an interpretation of Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers with bears standing in for people. The company is also launching Gallery of Light 3-D shadowbox ornaments featuring classic Rockwell scenes.

Curtis has also developed Men at the Top, a "Mad Men"-inspired retro collection featuring illustrations of men whose "looks, power and confident masculinity make other men jealous and women swoon," according to Piquinela.

Curtis will also partner with National Lampoon, fashion icon Bob Mackie and fashion brand Humanity.