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Willie Gillis, Jr. (more commonly simply Willie Gillis) is a fictional character created by Norman Rockwell for a series of World War II paintings that appeared on the covers of eleven issues of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' between 1941 and 1946. With the rank of private, Gillis was an everyman whose career was tracked on the cover of the ''Post'' from induction through discharge without being depicted in battle.〔 Gillis and his girlfriend were modeled by two of Rockwell's acquaintances.〔〔 Although Gillis was not exclusively used on ''Post'' covers, the Willie Gillis series of covers was a hallmark of Rockwell's wartime work.〔 In Rockwell's prime and at the peak of its popularity, The ''Post'' had a subscribership of 4 million, and many of these subscribers believed Gillis was a real person.〔 Rockwell's wartime art, including Willie Gillis, the ''Four Freedoms'' and ''Rosie the Riveter'', contributed to the success of the wartime bond sales efforts.〔 Since 1999, the Gillis series has been included in two major Rockwell tours. From 1999–2002 it toured as part of a Rockwell ''Post'' cover art retrospective.〔 From 2006–2010 it is touring as part of a 1940s World War II Rockwell art exhibition.〔〔 == Background == From 1916 through his Kennedy Memorial cover on December 16, 1963,〔 Rockwell created 321 magazine covers for The ''Post'', which was the most popular American magazine of the first half of the 20th century with a subscribership that reached a peak of 4 million.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People )〕 Rockwell illustrated American life during World War I and World War II in 34 of his cover illustrations,〔 and he illustrated 33 ''Post'' covers in total during World War II.〔 Some of the war art involved American life. During much of the first half of the 1940s, Rockwell's cover illustrations focused on the human side of the war.〔 Rockwell encouraged support of the war efforts during World War II via his covers which endorsed war bonds, encouraged women to work, and encouraged men to enlist in the service. His World War II illustrations used themes of patriotism, longing, shifting gender roles, reunion, love, work, community and family during wartime to promote the war.〔 In his role as a magazine illustrator during times of war, Rockwell draws comparisons to Winslow Homer, an American Civil War illustrator for ''Harper's Weekly''. Rockwell's artistic expressions were said to have helped the adoption of the goal of the Four Freedoms as set forth by United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Saturday Evening Post )〕 His painting series, the ''Four Freedoms'', toured in a war bond effort that raised $132 million. Willie Gillis was a freckle-faced All-American character who served as one of Rockwell's main coverboys during World War II. The Gillis character is widely referred to as an everyman who epitomized the typical American World War II Soldier.〔 Rockwell created Gillis in 1940 as the European Theatre of World War II was escalating and Americans were enlisting or being drafted under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 in the armed forces. Rockwell credits the name Willie Gillis to his wife, who derived it from an old children's book, ''Wee Willie Winkie''.〔 Rockwell described Gillis as "an inoffensive, ordinary little guy thrown into the chaos of war."〔 The public identified with Rockwell's portrayal of the "little guy" living up to a sense of duty in this time of war. Gillis was truly seen as the typical G.I., and Rockwell's wartime art remains quite popular: his signed original May 29, 1943 depiction of ''Rosie the Riveter'' sold at a Sotheby's auction on May 22, 2002 for $4,959,500.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter Painting Auctioned )〕 Some of the Willie Gillis paintings and the ''Rosie the Riveter'' painting were raffled off during the United States Department of the Treasury's Second War Loan Drive,〔 which ran from April 12 – May 1, 1943. The Gillis character endures generations later for literary and artistic comparison.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Willie Gillis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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