In 1943 Rockwell painted four large pictures illustrating the "four essential human freedoms" outlined by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1941 address to Congress. The paintings—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear—were reproduced as covers of the Saturday Evening Post. The Metropolitan's painting is one of several preliminary studies for Freedom of Speech based on Rockwell's favorable impressions of a town meeting he attended in his hometown, Arlington, Vermont.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Town Meeting
Artist:Norman Rockwell (American, New York 1894–1978 Stockbridge, Massachusetts)
Date:1943
Medium:Oil on composition board
Dimensions:20 1/4 × 16 3/8 in. (51.4 × 41.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:George A. Hearn Fund, 1952
Accession Number:52.164
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Norman Rockwell
the artist, Arlington, Vt. (1943–52; sold to MMA)
New York. Bernard Danenberg Galleries, Inc. "Norman Rockwell Exhibition," October 22–November 9, 1968, no catalogue (not included in exhibition portfolio of loose reproductions of works; no checklist published).
Fort Lauderdale Museum of the Arts. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," February 11–March 5, 1972, unnumbered cat. (p. 86).
Brooklyn Museum. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," March 22–May 14, 1972, unnumbered cat.
Washington, D. C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," May 26–July 16, 1972, unnumbered cat.
San Antonio, Tex. Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," August 1–27, 1972, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," September 8–November 5, 1972, unnumbered cat.
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Art Center. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," November 12–December 10, 1972, unnumbered cat.
Indianapolis Museum of Art. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," December 18, 1972–January 21, 1973, unnumbered cat.
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," January 28–February 25, 1973, unnumbered cat.
Seattle Art Museum. "Norman Rockwell: A Sixty Year Retrospective," March 8–April 15, 1973, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. "Norman Rockwell Retrospective," July 13–September 9, 1973.
Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–April 21, 1985, unnumbered cat. (p. 31).
Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 5–June 30, 1985, unnumbered cat.
New York. National Academy of Design. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," July 16–September 1, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Evanston, Ill. Terra Museum of American Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 15–November 10, 1985, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 12, 1985–January 19, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 9–March 30, 1986, unnumbered cat.
St. Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 20–June 8, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Stockbridge, Mass. Norman Rockwell Museum. "A Centennial Celebration," November 5, 1994–November 5, 1995.
Marietta, Ga. Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. "Nostalgic Journey: American Illustration Featuring Norman Rockwell," June 1–August 31, 1996, no catalogue.
Washington, D. C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms: Paintings That Inspired a Nation," May 15–September 6, 2004.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. "Rockwell's America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell," June 18, 2005–January 14, 2006.
New-York Historical Society. "Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms," May 25–September 2, 2018, unnumbered cat. (p. 139; as "Freedom of Speech," 1942).
Thomas S. Buechner. "A Matter of Opinion." New York Times (October 20, 1968), ill. p. D26, published as an advertisement for Exh. New York 1968.
Lowery Stokes Sims. The Figure in 20th Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Jacksonville Art Museum. New York, 1984, pp. 30–31, ill.
John Brandenburg. "Museum's Offerings Tell Story of 20th Century America." Daily Oklahoman/Times (May 30, 1985), p. 15.
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett inEnduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms. Exh. cat., New-York Historical Society. Stockbridge, 2018, pp. 139, 247, ill. p. 139 (color).
Ellsworth Kelly (American, Newburgh, New York 1923–2015 Spencertown, New York)
1963
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