The American Revolution and the founding documents of the United States placed liberty at the center of the new nation’s identity. But what it meant to dedicate a country to liberty was immediately contested and continues to be contested to this day. Who could claim the Declaration’s “unalienable rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”? For whom were the Constitution’s “Blessings of Liberty” to be secured? What, if anything, justifies limitations on human liberty, and what does a dedication to liberty demand of us?
Visual artists living through wartime in the US left behind a record of this tension at the core of the nation’s purpose and identity. They cheered, critiqued, and satirized the country’s commitment to liberty in magazine illustrations, caricatures, editorial cartoons, sheet music covers, broadsides, and posters. Whether patriotic or dissenting, produced for the masses or only a few, these images reveal the diverse, inspiring, and contradictory ways that liberty has been conceived and realized by the people of the United States.
Curator
Margaret Storey, Professor of History at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at DePaul University
Exhibition-Related Programming
Public Programs at the Newberry are free and open to all. Registration required in advance.
Picturing the News: A Panel Discussion with Political Cartoonists
Join a panel of political cartoonists in discussion about the role of cartoons in interpreting the news in a democracy and the ways that the current media landscape is influencing the artform.
Join a public tour of the exhibition:
Docent-guided tours occur Tuesdays at 1:00 pm, Thursdays at 11:30am, and Saturdays at 1:00 pm.
Curator-led tours will be at noon on July 15, August 19, and September 2.
Note: there will be no curator-led tour on June 15.
More About the Space
The Trienens galleries include an introductory gallery and a larger primary gallery. Exhibitions mounted there typically include 40-70 items from the Newberry's vast collections. Exhibitions in the Trienens galleries allow visitors to explore compelling themes and historical content in depth. Examples of past exhibitions include: Pop-Up Books through the Ages and Viva La Libertad. Click here to view a photo of the galleries.
