Description
Norman Rockwell Ours to Fight For 1943. Rockwell’s hymn to the American Way of life has become classics of American popular culture. They are, in fact, primarily illustration of national values, and without the captions, the viewer has no way of knowing that these are in any way related to a war effort. Poster espouses traditional values, home, country and family. Each scene contains individuals at ease with themselves in an essentially hospitable world, all rendered in exquisite detail. FDR’s Four Freedoms, the specific reasons for which we fought, were enumerated in his 1942 State of the Union address. Rockwell originally proposed illustrating the Freedoms to the Office of War Information, the main agency in charge of posters, but was rebuffed. The OWI considered Rockwell an ‘illustrator’ and not an ‘artist.’ The Saturday Evening Post finally commissioned the series. The magazine received a record number of requests for copies. The OWI ate humble pie and issued the Freedoms in 1943. The original oils for the posters raised over a million dollars when they were exhibited in 16 cities by the Treasury Department as part of war bond drives. The posters were meant to portray the way of life we were fighting to preserve. Rockwell wrote, “I do ordinary people in everyday situations. Whatever I have to express I have to express in those terms…even fairly big ideas. Freedom of Worship is a pretty big idea. So’s Freedom of Speech.” 40×28 near mint, conservation backed.
Bibliography:
Aulich War Posters Weapons of Mass Commuinication, page 210, Bird & Rubenstein Design for Victory World War II Posters page 37, Bredhoff Posters of Persuasion – Poster Art from World War II pages, 7-8, Darracott & Loftus Second World War Posters page 52, Judd Posters of World War II page 7-1, Nelson The Posters that Won the War 48,
