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Current Exhibitions Future Exhibitions Back to Exhibitions |
 Celebrating America September 10–October 13, 2002 Celebrating America opened at the Tyler Museum of Art on Tuesday, September 10 and continued through Sunday, October 13. Americans responded to the tragedy of September 11 with great courage and an outpouring of unabashed patriotism. Thousands of brave individuals met horrendous challenges with determination and strength of character. Millions of others, farther away from the location of the tragedy, generously contributed as best they could to help others and restore our collective spirit, pride, and dignity. In recent months, many museums across the country have expressed a desire to unite with their communities in remembrance of September 11, 2001. In response, the American Association of Museums and the Institute of Museum and Library Services have developed an initiative which underscores museums' roles as stewards of the nation's stories and special places where communities can reaffirm and examine our fundamental freedoms. This exhibition offered the citizens of East Texas an opportunity to reflect on our country and its amazing spirit and pause to remember those who lost their lives. Mayor Joey Seeber opened the exhibition at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 10 with remarks on the Museum's South Lawn. There was a posting of the colors by the City of Tyler Police Honor Guard. The exhibition featured art by Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978). Included were full-size photographic reproductions of the original paintings of the Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom From Want, and Freedom From Fear. In the dark times surrounding World War II, Norman Rockwell sought to help his country and inspire his fellow Americans by creating images that reflected the American spirit, values, and basic freedoms. Inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's address to Congress in 1941 in which he spoke of his vision of a better world—a world which embraced these four fundamental freedoms—Rockwell painted what many believe to be his four most famous works. Norman Rockwell began working on the Four Freedoms during the summer of 1942. He wanted to inspire people with his art by helping everyone understand what the President's address meant to the country. He struggled to come up with the right images. One night, while in bed, he remembered a recent town meeting where a member of the community expressed a dissident voice. No one agreed, but the man was allowed to speak. That town meeting became the inspiration for Freedom of Speech. Rockwell realized that the subject matter and inspiration for the Four Freedoms was the same subject matter that had inspired him throughout his career, the everyday life of ordinary people. For Rockwell, Freedom of Worship was difficult from the beginning because he believed religion was, in his words, "an extremely delicate subject." The painting expresses the power of worship as it emanates from the combined forces of diverse individuals in personal moments of devotion. Bathed in a golden light, the overlapping profiles become transcendent, but the faces themselves belong to everyday, solid citizens. Rockwell finished Freedom From Want in November of 1943. A family dinner, presumably Thanksgiving, is taking place. Photographs of Rockwell family Thanksgiving dinners were used in the painting. Besides family members, Rockwell used neighbors in Arlington, Vermont for models. This convivial family scene, with its bountiful supply of food, represents the American ideal of a family meal. Freedom From Fear features a mother bending over her children, tenderly tucking them in for the night while the father stands behind her, glasses and folded newspaper in his hand. This commonplace experience is portrayed in a quiet and touching manner, but the parent's depth of feeling is communicated through the shocking newspaper headlines relating events of bombings and horror in other parts of the world. In all four works Rockwell communicated the meaning of the F in our Freedoms through the traditional cornerstones of family and community. The original paintings are now part of the permanent collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Also included in the exhibition were several works which were featured in American Life and Storytelling: The Art of Norman Rockwell, which closed September 1st after setting attendance records at the Tyler Museum of Art. Included were Looking Across the Horizon of Their New Home, America (oil on canvas), which is a scene of a young pilgrim couple contemplating their new life in a new world. In visual terms, this painting conveys the power of the American vision of home, community, and love of country. This painting is on loan from the Rainone Galleries of Arlington, Texas. Also on display were a suite of eight prints by Rockwell with scenes from the great American novel Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, as well as five prints depicting the American Family which Rockwell created to be used as advertisements for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. These lithographs were recently donated to the Museum by R. L. Davis of Tyler. In addition, the Tyler Museum of Art was pleased to announce that Cathy Golden of Dallas recently had donated to TMA a suite of eight color Huckleberry Finn lithographs in memory of her mother. These illustrations by Rockwell were used in the Mark Twain novel Huckleberry Finn. Two of these prints were displayed for the first time as part of this exhibition. |
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