(NEW YORK, JULY 10, 2018)—The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College today announced the reinstallation of its current art exhibit, Reimagining the Four Freedoms. The exhibition is being re-mounted at a nearby space to accommodate maintenance work at Roosevelt House. Beginning July 16, the show goes on view at its new location, Hunter College’s “Casa Lally” at 132 East 65th Street (between Lexington and Third Avenues), just two blocks east of Roosevelt House, where it will remain on view for six more weeks, as scheduled.
Reimagining the Four Freedoms will be open at Casa Lally from Monday, July 16 through Sunday, September 2. Weekday hours are: 10am — 4pm. The gallery is closed on weekends.
The show, created to mark the 75th anniversary of Norman Rockwell’s iconic paintings visualizing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, presents original work by 39 contemporary artists considering the legacy and relevance of the Four Freedoms, and reinterpreting them for our time. Chosen in a juried competition from more than 1,000 entries, the selected artworks include paintings, sculpture, drawing, photography, video, and mixed media. They explore such concerns as mass incarceration, immigration, the Black Lives Matter movement, and women’s rights, and in some cases adapt or reinterpret famous Rockwell images into visual commentaries on 21st-century issues.
FDR first enunciated the Four Freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—in his annual Message to Congress on January 6, 1941. The ideas took flight when Norman Rockwell created images to illustrate these aspirations. When his pictures were first published in four issues of the Saturday Evening Post in February and March of 1943, they achieved instant popularity, prompting President Roosevelt to write the artist: “I think you have done a superb job in bringing home to the plain, everyday citizen the plain, every-day truths behind the Four Freedoms.”
Reimagining the Four Freedoms was organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, as a component of the exhibition Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms, running concurrently at the New-York Historical Society.
A special feature of the Hunter College installation is the inclusion of student commentary. Students from the undergraduate Public Policy and Human Rights programs at Roosevelt House wrote reflections in response to the works. Their short essays reveal their passion to improve health, safety, housing, environment, and employment opportunities for those suffering from want and fear, racism and war, and their commitment to uphold the freedoms of speech, the press, and religion. The responses exemplify the continuing relevance of the Four Freedoms to a new generation.
The presentation of Reimagining the Four Freedoms in New York has been curated by Deborah Gardner, Historian/Curator at Roosevelt House, in collaboration with Curator Stephanie Plunkett of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Assistance was provided by Roosevelt House staff and faculty members Aaron Lee Fineman, Daniel Culkin, Kelsey Adolphs, Joanne Vellardita, Sandra M. Nunez, and Mark Shulman, along with the Directors of the Public Policy and Human Rights programs at Roosevelt House—Shyama Venkateswar and Smita Narula, respectively—and the operations staffs of Hunter College, and colleagues from the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Following its presentation in New York City, Reimagining the Four Freedoms will join the tour of Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms, traveling to The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI, October 13, 2018-January 13, 2019; The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., February 9-May 6, 2019; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, December 15, 2019-March 22, 2020; [to a venue to be announced, July 4 – September 20, 2020]; and finally to the Norman Rockwell Museum in fall 2020.
Support for Reimagining the Four Freedoms is provided by the Ford Foundation. Leadership support for Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms is provided by Jay Alix, The Alix Foundation and the George Lucas Family Foundation. National Presenting Sponsor is The Travelers Companies, Inc. Major support provided by Anonymous, Michael Bakwin, Helen Bing, Elephant Rock Foundation, Ford Foundation, Heritage Auctions, Annie and Ned Lamont, National Endowment for the Arts, and Ted Slavin. Media Sponsors: Curtis Licensing, a division of the Saturday Evening Post, and the Norman Rockwell Family Agency.
Artists and Works in Reimagining the Four Freedoms
Stephanie Angelo, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Four Freedoms (Marriage, Agent Orange, Lettuce Picker, Stalin), digital print on paper
Brandin Barón, San Francisco, California, USA
The Four Freedoms in the Style of Pontormo, digital print on paper
Curt Belshe, Peekskill, New York, USA
The Four Freedoms, photo-polymer etching
James Berson, West Hollywood, California, USA
Peaceful Demonstration Helmet (Water Protection), mixed media
James Billeaudeau, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
Civil Discord, photograph
Benny Bing, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
United We Stand, acrylic on canvas
Gary Bist, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Refugee Families in Winter, sumi-e ink on rice paper
Barbara Brandel, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Thoughts of Home, recycled world postage stamps and acrylic and pencil on paper
Celine Browning, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Untitled III (Capture the Flag), flag, thread, and wood
Jarrett Christian, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Liberty Construct #1, ink on rice paper
Erin Currier, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Margarete, Helen, and Pablita, acrylic and mixed media on board
John Dempsey, Flint, Michigan, USA
Sunday Night/Monday Morning No. 2, acrylic on Masonite
Sara Dilliplane, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
We The People, digital animation
Candace Eaton, Sheffield, Massachusetts, and Northport, New York, USA
Why?, oil on canvas
Daniela Edstrom, Allenstown, New Hampshire, USA
Freedom of Religion, Freedom to Believe, version six, digital print on paper
Jane Feldman, New York, N.Y., USA
Freedom of Religion Re-Imagined, digital print on paper
Sarah Fukami, Denver, Colorado, USA
Jiyu (Freedom), acrylic and laser cutting on Plexiglas
Marcia Haffmans, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Breaking Free through Script, synesthetic fibers, Duralar, nuts, and bolts on board
Bri Hermanson, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA
To Have and To Hold, digital print on paper
Chris Hopkins, Everett, Washington, USA
An Uncertain Future and Freedom from Want (2 works), oil on panel
Sarah Hoskins, Libertyville, Illinois, USA
Jumping Jimtown, gelatin silver print
Felice House, Austin, Texas, USA
Olive Branch, oil on canvas
Esther Iverem, Washington, D.C., USA
Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares, quilt: fabric, ink, mixed media
Kenneth Laird, High Point, North Carolina, USA
Freedom of Speech—“Fake News”, digital print on paper
Lisa Long, Dublin, California, USA
Religious Family Tree, cut-paper on board
Jonathan Monaghan, Washington, D.C., USA
The Friend of the Family, digital print on aluminum
Tim Needles, Sound Beach, New York, USA
Four Freedoms Today, digital video
Maurice “Pops” Peterson
Freedom from What, digital photograph on canvas
Robyn Phillips-Pendleton
Who Are We The People?, oil and casein on claybord
Daisy Rockwell
Arrested series, acrylic on linen and panel
Deborah Samia, Oakland, California, USA
Four Freedoms (A Tribute to Norman Rockwell) (4 works), hydrocal plaster, reinforced with fiberglass
Kathryn Scott, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Grassroots, digital print on paper
Robert Selby, Colton, New York, USA
Colored/White (diptych), oil on wooden door
Andréanna Seymore, New York, New York, USA
Mother and Daughter, Women’s March 2017, digital print on paper
Soody Sharifi, Houston, Texas USA
The Game, digital print on paper
Leslie Sills, Brookline, Massachusetts,
USALe Marché, oil on panel
Fazilat Soukhakian, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Iran, Women, Hijab, digital print on canvas
Amy Wike, Washington, D.C., USA
Refuge, yarn
Peter Zierlein, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA
Freedom of Speech, ink on paper, artist proof
