Norman Rockwell’s Freedom From Want, has become, for many, the iconic image of the American family celebrating Thanksgiving. This enduring symbol of gratitude and family togetherness feels timeless. However, the actual story behind the painting, and what the artist intended it to represent is less about Thanksgiving and more about overcoming difficult struggles and the hope of a better future.
The Origins
The inspiration for Freedom From Want was the famous “Four Freedoms” speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt at his State of the Union address in 1941. The purpose of the speech was to create support for the war effort and ending America’s isolationist policies.
FDR argued that the Four Freedoms are fundamental human rights that every person should enjoy. These are: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. FDR used these freedoms to wrap up his State of the Union address. The purpose was to convince Americans that they could not be at peace while the rest of the world struggled to attain these freedoms.
While the speech was powerful, and resonated with many, the ideals were lofty and abstract. Norman Rockwell sought to translate the four freedoms into relatable, everyday scenes.
The painting we will focus on today is Freedom From Want. As explained by FDR, freedom from want is the right to sufficient food and well-being. Rockwell sought to embody this freedom by gathering a family around a Thanksgiving dinner.
To refresh your memory of the timeline:
- FDR delivered his speech on Jan. 6th, 1941.
- Bombing of Pearl Harbor happened on Dec. 7th, 1941.
- The U.S. officially declares war on Japan December 8th 1941.
- Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on Dec. 11th, 1941.
- Norman Rockwell’s Freedom From Want was created in Nov. of 1942
- The painting was published in the Saturday Evening Post on March 6, 1943.
Office of War, rejects Rockwell’s Freedom From Want
In mid June of 1942, Norman Rockwell, wanting to help the war effort, created 4 charcoal drawings of the Four Freedoms and submitted them to the Office of War for a commission. He was refused by an official with a rather cutting remark. “The last war, you illustrators did the posters. This war, we’re going to use fine arts men, real artists.”
Rockwell was already well known for his skill as an illustrator, and I’m sure the insinuation that illustrators were not “real artists” was insulting. However, the Saturday Evening Post encouraged Rockwell to continue with the project.
After publication, the Office of War would be forced to recognize just how wrong they were.
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening PostAlong with Rockwell’s paintings, the Post commissioned four essays, one on each of the Four Freedoms. Over the course of four weeks one painting, with its corresponding essay, would be published. The essay on Freedom From Want was written by Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino novelist and poet.
Bulosan’s essay is compelling, and I encourage you to read it. His points are as relevant in America today as they were when they were written. During the dark days of the war, he argues for hope and faith. Key to his argument is that we are not really free unless we are free to use what we produce. He argues that the fruit of men’s labor had long been denied them, and only when a society is free from want, can they begin to understand freedom. Only then can men read, think, discuss, and move forward. You can read his essay here.
When Rockwell read Bulosan’s essay he felt that his painting was all wrong, that he should abandon his vision for Freedom From Want. He felt that the essays and the art should convey the same messaging.
The editor of the Post, Ben Hibbs, pleaded with Rockwell not to change his plan. He recognized the advantages of presenting two different perspectives on the same theme. Hibbs had another reason for wanting Rockwell to proceed as planned.
As war time cutbacks were being enforced, the Post was being compelled by the government to restrict their printing to halftone. Hibbs wanted the paintings to be printed in full color before the new regulations were put into effect.
A National Tour
As soon as Rockwell’s Four Freedoms were published 25,000 requests for copies of the prints poured in. The Post decided to sell sets of the four colored prints for 25 cents. The Office of War, which had declined Rockwell’s offer initially, requested 2.5 million sets of the four posters to use during the war-bond drive. In the end they sold more than 4 million, raising over 132,000,000 dollars for the war effort.
A few weeks after publication, the four paintings began a national tour, visiting 16 cities across the United States. Instead of museums, the paintings were displayed in department stores, and 1.2 million Americans came to view the paintings on this first tour.
During this tour celebrities like Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra made appearances along with a variety of dignitaries. While raising money with sales of the war bonds was the focus, so was communicating the reasons the U.S. had entered the war. It was determined that during the first push to sell war bonds, only 35% of Americans were clear on the United States objectives. The Office of War used the paintings to create a clear patriotic vision of why it was crucial the U.S. enter the fight.
In fact, the Freedom from Want poster included the words: OURS…to fight for.
After the 16 city tour, the paintings continued to tour America in a special train car.
A Close reading of Freedom From Want
The painting’s subject is obviously a family gathered to celebrate together, and evokes the warmth and abundance of the ideal Thanksgiving meal. It’s noted that in most Thanksgiving paintings of the time, the family is pictured praying. Rockwell has chosen to capture a different moment and interpretation of gratitude. Heads bowed in an attitude of prayer would conjure for many the association with giving thanks, however, thankfulness is felt and expressed in many different moments.
We can imagine the smiling grandfather, with his many years of experience behind him, feeling grateful to have his family, safe and gathered around his table. The child on the end may not be able to express her gratitude, but she is experiencing the feeling of belonging and safety. I find that it is in these everyday moments that I am overwhelmed with feelings of thankfulness, rather than the prescribed moments when I ‘should’ feel thankful.
Who is in Rockwell’s Freedom From Want?
Rockwell used a rather unique method to create his compositions. Using his neighbors and friends as models, he photographed them in the poses he wished to use. The various models did not all need to be present at the same time, nor spend hours sitting for sketches. Instead Rockwell, who already had a working sketch of the composition, simply took a picture of his various models in the poses he needed.
However, some of the pictures were actually taken at Rockwell’s home on Thanksgiving Day, 1942. He used his own living room, and his table set for the meal as the model for what he would eventually paint. The woman placing the turkey onto the table is actually Norman Rockwell’s cook, and she did in fact cook the turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Before they could partake however, Rockwell documented her, with her husband standing behind her, placing the turkey on the table.
The other models are made up of more friends and family.
If we look at the gathering of faces starting at the top we have Mr. and Mrs. Wheaton, (Rockwell’s cook.) Then continuing clockwise we have two friends, Lester Brush, and Florence Lindsey. The second woman on that side of the table is Rockwell’s mother Nancy. Next to her, gazing out at us, is Jim Martin. Jim Martin actually appears in each of the four Freedom paintings.
Continuing in a circle, across from Jim Martin, is Dan Walsh, and next to him is Mary Rockwell, Norman Rockwell’s wife. Charles Lindsey completes the adults that are in the work. The two children are the Hoisington children, Bill and Shirley. At the time this was painted Shirley was 6 years old.
It’s notable that while those gathered at the table are dressed in their Sunday best, they don’t feel distant or idealized. Instead they feel natural, approachable, as if they could be our neighbors. Rockwell’s choice to use friends and neighbors as his models pays off. This gathering captures the connections we all wish to have. There appears to humor, comradery, and a sense of belonging by those at the table.
The simplicity of focusing on family, food, and warmth demonstrates what freedom from want really is. There is a universal desire to feel safe, to have our needs met, and to belong. This is the vision of the world we strive for, one where everyone has enough; enough material goods, but also enough companionship and connection.
Is That Norman Rockwell?
Is That Norman Rockwell?While some might debate whether Norman Rockwell was a true artist, what was not up for debate was his reputation as an art historian. His knowledge of art history was well known. Several Renaissance artists famously painted themselves into works as bystanders, soldiers, etc. There are many who believe that is what Rockwell did with the man in the bottom right corner, who is most often identified as Jim Martin. Some believe that individual is actually a self-portrait, or is meant to be a stand in for Rockwell, and that he is breaking the fourth wall and gazing out at the viewer.
The Composition and Colors
A large portion of the painting is taken up by the table, set with a pristine white tablecloth, gleaming china, and polished silverware, the setting of the table speaks to tradition and evokes warm family memories. The table leads our eyes to the focal point of the painting, which is the beautifully roasted turkey being presented by the assumed matriarch of the family. She would not stand out in the center of the painting nearly as well, had Rockwell not placed her husband, with his black suit, directly behind her, providing a contrasting backdrop to further draw the eye to her.
One of the painterly details in this work that is truly remarkable is the white on white color. The skill Rockwell demonstrates in painting a table covered in white, with white dishes, clear glasses of water, and shiny silverware is tremendous. Painting in shades of white is extremely difficult. Rockwell achieved the look of his whites by layering them, so often they were quite thick. This gave the white shades a distinctive vibrancy.
One of the challenges with white on white painting is that it can appear cold. Instead Rockwell’s table of white appears warm and inviting. The bright sunlight coming in through the window bathes the room is a soft light. There is nothing cold or icy about the scene.
While some may have dismissed Rockwell as merely an illustrator, here he proves he can handle color, composition, and light with the best of them. His realistic style were not at the forefront of the art world, which, at the time was obsessed with modern abstract art, but his skill cannot be denied.
International Reception to Rockwell’s Freedom From Want
Despite being popular in America, Europe did not respond positively to the work. Europe was experiencing food shortages and rationing and the painting caused resentment. America was able to remain removed from the actual fighting and many of the hardships faced by those in Europe, and to Europeans we entered the war late, and lived richly. Rockwell himself had concerns about the overabundance of food and security portrayed, when so many were displaced and going without. Many felt the painting didn’t display ‘lack of want’ so much as overabundance.
United Nations
Eleanor Roosevelt devoted herself to furthering the ideals of the Four Freedoms and helped to inspire the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The Four Freedoms were incorporated into the preamble to the Declaration of Human Rights and reads: “Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy the freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed the highest aspiration of the common people.”
Unfortunately, the United States would fail to live up to the Four Freedoms ideals. While FDR called for a world wide reduction in armaments to make the world more secure, he also called for a massive build-up of U.S. arms production to fight the war. And perhaps most egregiously, while touting the rights of everyman, he authorized the internment of Japanese Americans.
While the Four Freedoms as a whole, and Freedom From Want, in particular, are a picture of a world we should strive to create, it seems the road forward in bumpy, full of detours, and at times, lost completely.
Read More about Rockwell’s Freedom From Want
You can read more about this painting here.
Click to access NRM_Four_Freedoms_Media_Alert_2-1-17.pdf
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/norman-rockwell-thanksgiving-freedom-from-want-three-facts-1926485
