Holiday 2020 Catalogue

F e a t u r e d I t e m s 4 “In The Future Days, Which We Seek To Make Secure, We Look Forward To A World Founded Upon Four Essential Human Freedoms…” 1. ROCKWELL, Norman. Set of four posters: Four Freedoms. Washington, 1943. Four color broadside posters, each measuring 28 by 40 inches; handsomely framed, each measures 32 by 44 inches each. $9800. Stunning set of four 1943 World War II posters by iconic American artist Norman Rockwell based on FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech, depicting the four freedoms—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear—and encouraging Americans to buy war bonds, handsomely framed. “In his January 1941 address to Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt articulated his vision for a postwar world founded on four basic human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In the spring of 1942, Norman Rockwell was working on a piece commissioned by the Ordnance Department of the U.S. Army… But Rockwell wanted to do more for the war effort and decided he would illustrate Roosevelt’s four freedoms” (Norman Rockwell Museum). Unfortunately, the Ordnance Department was out of money. Rockwell turned to the Saturday Evening Post , which gave him permission to cease his work on covers once a month to provide the paintings for the Post’s publication. “The paintings were a phenomenal success… In May 1943, representatives from the Post and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a joint campaign to sell war bonds and stamps... [T]he Office of War Information printed four million sets of posters of the paintings. Each was printed with the words “Buy War Bonds” [as here]. They were distributed in United States schools and institutions, and overseas” (Norman Rockwell Museum). Few complete sets have survived. Usual faint folding creases, rag backing. Fine condition. Featured Items