Beloved American artist Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978) is most known for his nostalgic, touching paintings that appealingly depicted simple scenes from everyday life. First hired to illustrate a series of children’s books when he was 16, Rockwell was then hired as the art director of “Boys’ Life,” the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. The “Saturday Evening Post,” the era’s most prestigious magazine, bought their first cover from him six years later. For almost five decades, he created 321 “Post” covers, which became his trademark. Later illustrating for “Look” magazine, he probed more serious cultural concerns.
Inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941speech titled, "The Four Freedoms," Norman Rockwell expressed the strength of this message by creating his own series of paintings. Rockwell spent months perfecting each of the four masterpieces which would be published in 1943: Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. The Saturday Evening Post supported Rockwell's efforts by commissioning four themed essays to accompany the prints. The Post's publication generated such a positive response during the turmoil of WWII that the U.S. Treasury Department launched The Four Freedoms War Bond Show, an exhibition tour dedicated to these paintings. "The Four Freedoms" series still represents some of Norman Rockwell's most compelling work to date.
This giclée print delivers a vivid image with maximum color accuracy and exceptional resolution. The standard for museums and galleries around the world, giclée (French for “to spray”) is a printing process where millions of ink droplets are sprayed onto the paper’s surface. With the great degree of detail and smooth transitions of color gradients, giclée prints appear much more realistic than other reproduction prints. The high-quality paper (235 gsm) is acid free with a smooth surface.