Arthur Szyk Society - Szyk thru the Past

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THE FOUR FREEDOMS

On the brink of U.S. entry into World War II, in January 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the historic State of the Union, which became known as the "Four Freedoms" speech. At the time, Arthur Szyk's celebrated works of George Washington and the American Revolution were on display in FDR's White House. These works, 38 watercolors entitled Washington and His Times, had been previously exhibited at the Library of Congress in 1934, Szyk's first notable American exhibition and his first visit here. That year, the U.S. Congress presented him with the prestigious George Washington Bicentennial Award. The paintings were purchased in 1935 by the President of Poland and presented as a gift to FDR.

Szyk immigrated to the U.S. in December 1940, one month before President Roosevelt delivered the "Four Freedoms" State of the Union, which articulated the moral justification for American involvement in World War II. Szyk realized he had arrived just in time to join America's battle against fascism and to become, as he was called, the FDR Administration's "citizen-soldier."

The relationship between Szyk and Roosevelt thus continued. Greatly inspired by the President's State of the Union, Szyk illuminated the Four Freedoms later that year. They were reproduced as poster stamps during the war, and later incorporated into a Four Freedoms Award certificate, which was presented, in 1953, to President Harry Truman by Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Other prominent recipients of Szyk's illuminated certificate included General George Marshall (1952) and Senator (later Governor) Herbert H. Lehman (1954). It is interesting to note that Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms were not painted until 1943. Szyk was one of the first artists to illuminate Roosevelt's message for the American people.

"ARTIST FOR FREEDOM"
As part of its millennium celebration in the year 2000, the Library of Congress exhibited Szyk's art for the second time in 65 years. Today, that exhibition, Arthur Szyk: Artist For Freedom, can be viewed on the web. Visit The Society's website at www.szyk.org and click on the link to the Library of Congress exhibition, or go directly to www.lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/szyk.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms"
State of the Union Address, January 1941:
"...In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
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...
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory."