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Artist: Norman Rockwell Artist Dates: 1894-1978 Signed Within Plate: Yes Date of Work: 1943 Description: In his 1941 State of the Union Address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed that people everywhere in the world were entitled to four fundamental freedoms: Freedom of Speech Freedom of Worship Freedom from Want Freedom from FearThis speech has forever come to be known as FDR’s Four Freedoms speech, and it provided inspiration for Norman Rockwell to create a set of Four Freedoms paintings, one for each freedom. Rockwell claims that the government initially had no interest in these paintings, and it was only after seeing public reaction to their publication in four consecutive weekly issues of the Saturday Evening Post from Feb. 20 to March 13, 1943, that the government saw their potential and used them in poster campaigns for war bonds. The original paintings were taken by The Treasury Department on a tour of the country, and along with the issuance of the posters, raised more than $132 million for war efforts. The New Yorker reported that Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms â€aewere received by the public with more enthusiasm, perhaps, than any other paintings in the history of American art.” Ben Hibbs, who served as an editor for the Saturday Evening Post from 1942 to 1962, later said, â€aeThose four pictures quickly became the best-known and most-appreciated paintings of that era. They appeared right at a time when the war was going against us on the battle fronts, and the American people needed the inspirational message which they conveyed so forcefully and beautifully.” Today, the original paintings form the centerpiece of the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. They perhaps illustrate better than any other WWII poster, what America was fighting for and the power art had to deliver that message quickly and powerfully to its people.Artist Michael Lenson was similarly inspired by FDR’s speech and created a set of murals which were painted at Newark, NJ’s 14th Street School. Lida Orzeck came across more than 750 vintage war posters from World War I and World War II in her family’s home basement that her father, David Orzeck, a Brooklyn doctor, had meticulously collected. Discovered in 1970, the posters â€" of which few pristine prints remain with the exception of the National Archives and the Library of Congress â€" were in mint condition, neatly catalogued and folded in brown wrapping paper from grocery stores. Size: 28"L x 40"H each Weight: < 1 pound Provenance: Dr. David Orzeck Condition: Poster has original fold marks and has not been exposed to sunlight, thus preserving the vibrant colors. Recently backed with archival paper (reversible). Artist Biography: Born in New York City in 1894, Norman Rockwell always wanted to be an artist. At age 14, Rockwell enrolled in art classes at The New York School of Art (formerly The Chase School of Art). Two years later, in 1910, he left high school to study art at The National Academy of Design. He soon transferred to The Art Students League, where he studied with Thomas Fogarty and George Bridgman. Fogarty’s instruction in illustration prepared Rockwell for his first commercial commissions. From Bridgman, Rockwell learned the technical skills on which he relied throughout his long career.Rockwell found success early. He painted his first commission of four Christmas cards before his sixteenth birthday. While still in his teens, he was hired as art director of Boys’ Life, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, and began a successful freelance career illustrating a variety of young people’s publications.At age 21, Rockwell’s family moved to New Rochelle, New York, a community whose residents included such famous illustrators as J.C. and Frank Leyendecker and Howard Chandler Christy. There, Rockwell set up a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe and produced work for such magazines as Life, Literary Digest, and Country Gentleman. In 1916, the 22-year-old Rockwell painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post, the magazine considered by Rockwell to be the â€aegreatest show window in America.” Over the next 47 years, another 321 Rockwell covers would appear on the cover of the Post. Also in 1916, Rockwell married Irene O’Connor; they divorced in 1930.The 1930s and 1940s are generally considered to be the most fruitful decades of Rockwell’s career. In 1930 he married Mary Barstow, a schoolteacher, and the couple had three sons, Jarvis, Thomas, and Peter. The family moved to Arlington, Vermont, in 1939, and Rockwell’s work began to reflect small-town American life.In 1943, inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s address to Congress, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms paintings. They were reproduced in four consecutive issues of The Saturday Evening Post with essays by contemporary writers. Rockwell’s interpretations of Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear proved to be enormously popular. The works toured the United States in an exhibition that was jointly sponsored by the Post and the U.S. Treasury Department and, through the sale of war bonds, raised more than $130 million for the war effort.Although the Four Freedoms series was a great success, 1943 also brought Rockwell an enormous loss. A fire destroyed his Arlington studio as well as numerous paintings and his collection of historical costumes and props.In 1953, the Rockwell family moved from Arlington, Vermont, to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Six years later, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In collaboration with his son Thomas, Rockwell published his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, in 1960. The Saturday Evening Post carried excerpts from the best-selling book in eight consecutive issues, with Rockwell’s Triple Self-Portrait on the cover of the first.In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher. Two years later, he ended his 47-year association with The Saturday Evening Post and began to work for Look magazine. During his 10-year association with Look, Rockwell painted pictures illustrating some of his deepest concerns and interests, including civil rights, America’s war on poverty, and the exploration of space.In 1973, Rockwell established a trust to preserve his artistic legacy by placing his works in the custodianship of the Old Corner House Stockbridge Historical Society, later to become Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge. The trust now forms the core of the Museum’s permanent collections. In 1976, in failing health, Rockwell became concerned about the future of his studio. He arranged to have his studio and its contents added to the trust. In 1977, Rockwell received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Meta: Poster, WWI, WWII, Military, Militaria, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Propaganda.