Freedom of Worship (painting)

Freedom of Worship (painting)

Freedom of Worship is the second of a series of four oil paintings by Norman Rockwell entitled Four Freedoms. The works were inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address delivered to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941. The series of paintings became widely distributed in poster form and became instrumental in the U.S. Government War Bond Drive. In 1966, Rockwell used Freedom of W worship to show his admiration for John F. Kennedy in a story illustration entitled JFK’s Bold Legacy.

About Freedom of Worship (painting) in brief

Summary Freedom of Worship (painting)Freedom of Worship is the second of a series of four oil paintings by Norman Rockwell entitled Four Freedoms. The works were inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address delivered to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941, known as Four Freedom. The series of paintings became widely distributed in poster form and became instrumental in the U.S. Government War Bond Drive. In 1966, Rockwell used Freedom of W worship to show his admiration for John F. Kennedy in a Look story illustration entitled JFK’s Bold Legacy. The original version of the painting was set in a barbershop with patrons of a variety of religions and races all waiting their turn in the barber’s chair. Rockwell’s intended theme was religious tolerance, but he felt the original composition did not successfully make this point. His final version relied on other visual clues, including a dark-skinned black man juxtaposed on the edges of a religious book and a rosary beads-covered Catholic with a Protestant face.

The painting was published on the 27th of February, 1943, issue of The Saturday Evening Post alongside an essay by philosopher Will Durant. It is one of two works in the series, the other being Freedom of Speech, which ran on four consecutive weeks in the same issue of the Post. The other work is Freedom of speech, which was published in the 28th issue of that month’s Post. In June 1942, Post editor Ben Hibbs gave Rockwell two months to complete the works. By October, the Post was worried about Rockwell’s progress on the Four freedoms and sent their art editor to Arlington to evaluate. At that time Rockwell spent two months on his own painting in his Arlington, Vermont home.