Kindly note:
This is an ESL friendly class, CEFR  level — B1-B2 (intermediate).
Please feel free to write me via Outschool email with questions.
***
One of the most storied illustrators and artists of the 20th century, Norman Rockwell’s 323 covers for the Saturday Evening Post made his work beloved by generations of people in The United States and abroad. But while his playful illustrations could be both sweet and wistful, Rockwell was also tremendously skilled artist.  His artwork, particularly The Thanksgiving Picture, known also as Freedom from Want, is one of his famed Four Freedoms Paintings from 1942. This superbly executed work is as deeply responsive to the mood of the times and as inspiring as were the works of France’s Eugene Delacroix or Spain’s Francesco Goya. This, and the other works of the Four Freedoms series, will be studied in this class.  We will explore Rockwell's creation of these works as linked to Roosevelt's speech and study Rockwell's work from an artistic perspective. 

Spurred to creation by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famed 1941 State of the Union address, known as The Four Freedoms,  Rockwell's images affirmed Roosevelt's inspiring assertions in his speech: people everywhere deserved to be safe, prosperous, happy, and free. While the images — Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear —  proved remarkably inspiring to a world still reeling from the depths of the Depression, embroiled in World War II, and eventually facing the ongoing Cold War. 

The phrases Rockwell was responding to from Roosevelt's speech are thus:

"The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation."

We will look deeply at this iconic work and the other works of Rockwell’s Four Freedoms series, to gain greater insight to his artistic style and methods and consider the power of image to convey meaning.  Students are provided with the text of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech which we will use in discussion of Rockwell's paintings. 

With interactive discussion throughout and the use of powerpoint to display images, no prior art history experience is necessary for this course.