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The model for Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter,” Mary Doyle Keefe a symbol for American women working on the home front during World War II passed away at her home in Simsbury, Connecticut, at age 92 on April 21, 2015.

According to the Associated Press, Keefe posed for Rockwell when she was a 19-year-old telephone operator living in Vermont. Twenty-four years later, after the image appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, the artist (Norman Rockwell) wrote Keefe, calling her the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and apologizing for exaggerating her shoulders and arms. The painting—not to be confused with the more stylized, “We can do it” version—became a symbol of wartime resilience and the millions of American women who worked on the home front during World War II.

Thank you Mary and Normand for the truly inspiring and iconic images in a time where our Nation needed hope! (Note: the iconic images of WWI and WWII continue to inspire the artwork of Squadronposters.com

Norman Rockwell's "Rosie the Riveter"
Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter”

 

"We Can Do It"
“We Can Do It”

 

 

 

 

 

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