Norman Rockwell: “Freedom of Speech”, 1941-45
Norman Rockwell: American Freedom – MFAH The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents ‘Norman Rockwell: American Freedom’. The presentation is the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to Norman Rockwell’s iconic depictions of FDR’s Four Freedoms— Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom from Want. December 15, 2019, through March 22, 2020.]]>
Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The exhibition explores how the 1943 paintings came to be embraced by millions of Americans, providing crucial aid to the war effort and taking their place among the most indelible images in the history of American art. Paired with the internationally touring exhibition is a selection of photographs from the Four Freedoms photography project by Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur, on display in an adjoining gallery.
The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections that examine the context for Rockwell’s work. “The War Generation” looks at the political and socio-economic backdrop against which Roosevelt announced the Four Freedoms. “FDR’s Freedoms” turns to Roosevelt’s emphatic proclamation of the Four Freedoms as a rationale to enter the war, presented in his 1941 address to Congress. “Artistic Response to the Four Freedoms Ideals” documents the government’s efforts to promote these ideals to the public by encouraging artists across disciplines to interpret Roosevelt’s Freedoms.
”Rockwell’s Four Freedoms” addresses Rockwell’s interpretation of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms and how, thanks largely to their reproduction in The Saturday Evening Post, they would come to be embraced by millions. Finally, “Freedom’s Legacy” follows the postwar outcomes of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms.
Houston is the fifth venue for the acclaimed exhibition’s seven-city tour organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum.
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