New-York Historical Society Teen Historians

Zeki Hirsch, 11th Grade Sitting just outside a display of the renowned Four Freedoms paintings, this small but striking work stands out starkly from the vivid colors and quirky characters of Norman Rockwell. Ukrainian-American artist Boris Artzybasheff’s Witches’ Sabbath, made in 1942 for Life magazine, is a dark, grotesque snapshot of one of Europe’s greatest…

Dora Usdan, 11th Grade The Ticket Seller by Norman Rockwell was illustrated as a cover for The Saturday Evening Post published on April 24th, 1937. The painting depicts a man in a Ticket Agency surrounded by posters advertising travel destinations in Europe and around the world. Some of the destinations listed are “Paris,” “Mountains” and…

David Mellgard, 12th Grade “The Funeral Oration for Poland,” or simply “The Funeral Oration,” by Hugh M. Hutton (1898-1976) is an editorial cartoon made for the Philadelphia Inquirer. After two short stints drawing illustrations and comics for New York World and the United Features Syndicate, Hutton joined the Inquirer in 1934. There, he became famous…

Christopher Valdivia, 12th Grade We are the governed, but we govern too. Assume our love of country, for it is only the simplest of self-love. Worry little about our strength, for we have our history to show for it. And because we are strong, there are others who have hope. But watch closely from now…

Caitlin Chin, 12th grade Arthur Szyk’s Four Freedoms Stamps consist of a repeated sequence of four different stamps, which depict, from left to right, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Each stamp has an illustration depicting a recurring male character, and is labeled with the freedom with which…

Astrid Weinberg, 11th Grade Published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1943, Norman Rockwell’s artistic interpretation of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms became a nationwide phenomenon and a patriotic symbol of support for the war effort. This particular image, titled Freedom From Fear, depicts a white family of four in a child’s bedroom, saying…

Ariella Rosen, Freshman at Barnard College Marble Champion, a painting by Norman Rockwell, depicts three children crouching before a curved line that is drawn on the ground. There is a boy in white shirt, whose golden hair is bright beneath his red cap; there is a dark-haired boy in a black and white striped polo…

Ari Ezra, 12th Grade United Nations by Norman Rockwell, an American illustrator, is colorless and drawn only with shades of grey because it went unpublished. Nevertheless, the illustration was meant to be a mural and is drawn on a long, but not tall, canvas with graphite and charcoal. In the foreground of the piece there…

Aaron Shuchman, 10th Grade While Norman Rockwell’s Man Charting War Maneuvers might not contain the jaunty expressions of Willie Gillis: Food Package or the innocence and joy of Marble Champion, the scene is relatable to concerned households across the United States. Front and center, a man listens intently to the radio with a cigar in…