Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978) High Adventure, 1957 Oil on canvas 47 x 29 inches (119.4 x 73.7 cm) Signed lower left: Norman / Rockwell Property from the BSA Settlement Trust, Sold for the Benefit of Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse EXHIBITED: National Scouting Museum, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, n.d. LITERATURE: Boy Scouts of America Calendar, Brown & Bigelow Co., Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1957, illustrated; Boys' Life Magazine, The Boy Scouts of America, New York, June 1957, cover; W. Hillcourt, Norman Rockwell's World of Scouting, New York, 1977, pp. 10-11, 118, illustrated; M. Moline, Norman Rockwell Encyclopedia, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1979, pp. 15, 226-27, fig. 8-41, illustrated; L.N. Moffatt, Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue, Vol. I, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1986, p. 283, no. A77, illustrated; J. Csatari, Norman Rockwell's Boy Scouts of America, New York, 2009, pp. 12, 70-71, illustrated. The young men at the center of the present work are Explorer Scouts, members of a program established in the 1930s to extend traditional Scouting into more advanced, and often coeducational, pursuits. Designed for older youth, Exploring emphasized wilderness expeditions that fostered both technical outdoor proficiency and the development of leadership skills. High Adventure presents a procession of Explorer Scouts, laden with camping equipment and accompanied by a pack burro bearing provisions, as they move energetically through the landscape. Their animated gestures, with two figures pointing ahead, direct the viewer's gaze toward the monumental peak rising in the distance, effectively drawing the audience into the scene. This formation is the Tooth of Time (fig. 1), a granite outcrop in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Cimarron, New Mexico. Cimarron is home to Philmont Scout Ranch, the Boy Scouts of America's premier high-adventure base, encompassing over 200 square miles of wilderness, as well as the National Scouting Museum. Donated in 1938 and 1941 by Oklahoma oilman Waite Phillips, the ranch transformed the organization's outdoor program, enabling thousands of Scouts—approximately 15,000 each summer—to experience extended backcountry expeditions. Following his attendance at the 1953 Boy Scout National Jamboree in Irvine, California, Rockwell traveled to Philmont Ranch, where he produced a series of documentary photographs capturing the Tooth of Time, the surrounding terrain, and posed Scout models. These studies informed the composition of the present work, High Adventure, many of which are preserved in the Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust digital archives. This painting was featured as the Boy Scouts of America Brown & Bigelow calendar image of 1957 and featured on the cover of Boys' Life Magazine in July that same year. HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

National Scouting Museum, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, n.d.

Condition report available upon request.
Framed Dimensions 52.5 X 44 Inches