At this moment I’ve been revisiting research on the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition by Dennis Adams which commented on the museum’s previous exhibition “Road to Victory” (1942).
I was just interested in the memory of the institution of the Museum of Modern Art at a moment in history when it directly began to intersect with the real, social, and political world. That’s an incredible moment really when a museum begins to step into another direction completely.
In my own research within the MOMA archives, I found the following passage at the end of the original printed folio from 1942:
THE FOUR FREEDOMS
(Message to the 77th Congress, January 6, 1942)
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 the 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 it’s inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear—which , translated into world terms, means a worldwide 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.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
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