NOTE: This program will take place at the Monument Arts & Cultural Center
44 Gypsy Lane, Bennington

a Bennington Historical Society presentation

In 1962, artist and cartoonist Don Trachte purchased the painting Breaking Home Ties from his friend and neighbor, Norman Rockwell. 40 years later, the painting was loaned to the Norman Rockwell Museum, but art critics began to raise concerns about its authenticity. Was this really a Norman Rockwell original, or could it be a carefully executed forgery? In this presentation, Don Trachte, Jr. shares the story behind the painting, the debate about its origins, and the shocking secret he and his brother found behind the walls of their father’s studio.

Don is the eldest son of artist Donald Trachte. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1947. During his childhood in the 1950s in the wholesome environment of Arlington, Vermont, where he was raised as a neighbor and a friend of Norman Rockwell’s family, Don grew up with many of the people depicted in Rockwell’s paintings. He attended Arlington High School and Western State College of Colorado with a major in economics. His interest in science and geology led to expeditions to Antarctica and Greenland.

Trachte has worked for several aerospace companies in sales/marketing and program management. He is currently cataloguing his father’s large collection of artwork and artifacts collected and give lectures about his experience of discovering an original Norman Rockwell painting behind a secret wall. Don lives in Bennington, Vermont.

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