Original painting, measuring 29 3/4 by 21 1/2 inches, matted and framed. The subject of the painting is the text of the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on August 14, 1941 that provided a framework for U.S. and British war, and post-war, goals. The Charter formed the basis for the charter of the modern United Nations. The text is written here in fine calligraphy with red and gold initials. The headings for the eight parts are in blue on a pink ground, and tiny versions of the flags for each of the Allies who signed the Charter are finely wrought in full color. At the end of the text, the title is flanked by excellent miniature portraits of Roosevelt and Churchill.
Along the right side of the Charter are four paintings representing the Four Freedoms. In his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941, Roosevelt put forward four essential human rights that all people should enjoy: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These fundamental freedoms were incorporated into the Atlantic Charter and entered the cultural zeitgeist, inspiring a wealth of artistic expression, most famously the series of paintings by Norman Rockwell. Arthur Szyk also produced a quadriptych of the Four Freedoms, and murals depicting the freedoms grace government and private buildings throughout the United States. This painting was completed a year before Rockwell's series appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post and was executed by Jos. (possibly Joseph) Schoor, about whom we could find no information but who is certainly accomplished in his craft. The four richly detailed scenes show representations of the Four Freedoms: an orator enjoying the freedom of speech; a crowd entering a house of worship and exercising their freedom of religion; a farmer free from want gathering hay; and an allegorical female figure with a sword ready to defend the innocent from war, famine, and death, guarding the freedom from fear. The striking images feature strong lines and bold colors reminiscent of the paintings of Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper.
The Charter and Freedoms are bounded by a multi-colored triple border, also painted by Schoor. The whole has been professionally framed and matted and is in fine condition. Altogether a well-executed response to a world-changing vision of the future. (Frame measures 38 1/4 by 30 1/4 inches).