Enduring Ideals

Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt and the Four Freedoms is the catalogue for the first comprehensive traveling exhibition devoted to Norman Rockwell's iconic depictions of FDR's Four Freedoms.

Enduring Ideals illuminates both the historic context in which FDR articulated the Four Freedoms - Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear - and the role of Rockwell's paintings in bringing them to life for millions of people, rallying the public behind the War effort and changing the tenor of the times. In telling the story of how Rockwell's works were transformed from a series of paintings into a national movement, the exhibition also demonstrates the power of illustration to communicate ideas and inspire change.

In addition to his celebrated paintings of the Four Freedoms, the exhibition brings together numerous other examples of painting, illustration, and more, by both Rockwell and a broad range of his contemporaries - from J.C. Leyendecker and Mead Schaeffer, to Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks, among others - as well as historical documents, photographs, videos, and artifacts; interactive digital displays; and immersive settings. While exploring the response of an earlier generation to the plea for defense of universal freedoms, the exhibition also resonates with our own time.

The catalogue features essays by exhibition co-curators Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and James Kimble, by Laurie Norton Moffat, Director of the Norman Rockwell Museum, and by other contributors, including activist Ruby Bridges, artist and granddaughter of Norman Rockwell, Daisy Rockwell, and Ambassador William vanden Heuvel.

About the Author

Co-Curator, Deputy Director/Chief Curator, Norman Rockwell Museum; Master of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, Illustration as Visual Essay, and the curator of national and international exhibitions exploring published imagery, the art of Norman Rockwell, and the field of illustration.

James Kimble, Ph.D., Co-Curator, Associate Professor of Communication, Seton Hall University. Ph.D., Rhetoric & Political Culture, University of Maryland, College Park. Publications: Mobilizing the Home Front: War Bonds, Morale, and the U.S. Treasury's Domestic Propaganda Campaign, 1942-1945, Texas A/M University Press; Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press; and many journal articles and book chapters focusing on American visual culture during the World War II era.