中学時代の番長（この言葉自体がとても古臭いものになってしまったが・・）とても絵が好きで僕も良く彼に似顔絵を描かれていた。
彼にはとても良く僕は好まれて当然ながら同じように他校と喧嘩の際や修学旅行も含めていい思い出をくれた。
そんな彼がこよなく愛した尊敬する画家がﾉｰﾏﾝﾛｯｸｳｪﾙだったのだ。
彼からその存在を教えてもらい、いつも気になる存在の画家であったわけだが後にﾛｯｸｳｪﾙ氏がｳｫﾙﾄﾃﾞｨｽﾞﾆー氏と深い関係であったこと知る・・。
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そういえば僕が所有しているﾌﾛﾘﾀﾞﾃﾞｨｽﾞﾆｰﾜ^ｰﾙﾄﾞで購入した限定ﾌｨｷﾞｭｱたちはﾃﾞｨｽﾞﾆｰとﾛｯｸｳｪﾙのコラボとも言えるし、僕が好んで収集してきたヴｨﾝﾃｰｼﾞmagazineであるｻﾀﾃﾞｰｲﾌﾞﾆﾝｸﾞﾎﾟｽﾄのcoverは彼が長年イラストを提供した代表作だ。
実は彼らが知人から友人になるには心温まる演出ｴﾋﾟｿｰﾄﾞが存在したのである。
"We were traveling in New England and stopped for lunch in a little tea room. It had pictures by Norman Rockwell all over the walls. Walt said, ’Rockwell lives around here, doesn’t he?’ The waitress answered that he did and told him to go back three miles down the road and turn at the covered bridge. Walt and I, along with our wives (Walt’s wife, Lillian, and Cottrell’s wife Hazel who was Lillian’s sister), ended up spending a couple of hours with Rockwell. We just dropped in on him-it was nothing formal. He was mowing the grass when we drove up. He told us how he photographed people of the village and used them in his painting as he needed them. He showed us ‘Saturday Evening Post’ covers and several other paintings. Later, he did a commissioned portrait of Walt’s daughters.”
Rockwell gifted “Girl Reading the Post” to Walt Disney in 1943. The original oil is inscribed, "To Walt Disney, one of the really great artists, from an admirer, Norman Rockwell."
In appreciation, Walt wrote to Rockwell on May 21, 1943: "I can’t begin to thank you…my entire staff have been traipsing up to my office to look at it…minutely they inspect it…to all of them, you are some sort of god."
To accompany the note, Walt sent the illustrator a set of ceramic figurines featuring characters from Pinocchio, Bambi and Fantasia.
In August, 2001, Diane Disney Miller donated “Girl Reading the Post” to the Norman Rockwell Museum with this note: "I visited your museum last year, loved it, and am pleased to know that the painting will hang where it belongs."
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去年、縁があってｳｫﾙﾄ氏のoriginalﾌｫﾄを購入したのだが、今年はﾛｯｸｳｪﾙ氏のﾚｿﾞﾈフォトを入手した。
額装したらこっそりさりげなく隣同士に飾ろうと思っている。
