7248 - Norman Rockwell (2) ‘Four Freedoms’ WWII Posters: Freedom of Speech and Freedom from Fear (1943) - Each 28.5″ x 40″

Norman Rockwell (2) ‘Four Freedoms’ WWII Posters: Freedom of Speech and Freedom from Fear (1943) - Each 28.5″ x 40″ Two original color Office of War Information posters published in 1943 by the Government Printing Office, each 28.5 x 40, featuring Norman Rockwell’s classic ‘Four Freedoms’ paintings: “Save Freedom of Speech / Buy War Bonds” (OWI Poster No. 44) and “Ours...to fight for / Freedom from Fear” (OWI Poster No. 46). Each bears the caption “Painting from the Saturday Evening Post” at the lower right. The lower borders carry the OWI poster numbers, the distribution line “Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C.,” and the Government Printing Office codes “1943—O-510257” and “1943—O-511887,” respectively. Folded as issued and in overall very good to fine condition, with intersecting folds, trivial edgewear, and light toning and stains. The “Save Freedom of Speech” poster is housed in a clear protective sleeve. Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series to illustrate the four essential human freedoms President Franklin D. Roosevelt named in his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The paintings appeared in four consecutive issues of the Saturday Evening Post in February and March 1943, and the Office of War Information then reproduced them as posters. The original canvases toured the country to promote war bonds, raising more than $132 million.