Ruth K. Shartle Lecture


Inaugurated in 1975 by Alice Pratt Brown (Mrs. George R. Brown), a major benefactor who served 26 terms as a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, this lecture series was established in memory of Ruth K. Shartle, a longtime Museum benefactor. William C. Agee, director of the MFAH from 1974 to 1982, described the lecture series as a commemoration of Ruth K. Shartle’s “unstinting friendship, her intellectual curiosity and generous spirit of sharing her enthusiasm for man’s creative accomplishment, and most of all, her unselfish, fresh spirit and unfailing joy of life.”

Winter/Spring 2019–2020

  • Sunday, December 15, 3 p.m. “Art for a Civil Society: Norman Rockwell in the 1960s”
  • Thursday, December 19, 6:30 p.m. “The Four Freedoms: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Vision of America”
  • Thursday, February 20, 6:30 p.m. “Freedom to Think & Freedom to Speak: A Rockwell Case Study”
  • Thursday, February 27, 6:30 p.m. “For Freedoms: Where Do We Go from Here?”
  • Thursday, March 5, 6:30 p.m. “Rockwell’s Home Front Imaginary”

The Ruth K. Shartle Lecture Series is made possible by a generous grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc. 

“Norman Rockwell: American Freedom” has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Lead foundation underwriting is provided by:
The Hamill Foundation

Additional generous funding for this exhibition is provided by:
M.D. Anderson Foundation
Melza and Ted Barr
Memorial Hermann
John L. Nau III
Susie and Mel Glasscock
Carla Knobloch
The Radoff Family
Ann G. Trammell
Kelley and Harper Trammell
Flo McGee

Media Sponsors:

and the
Norman Rockwell Family Agency

Support for “The Four Freedoms Reimagined” is provided by the Margaret Cooke Skidmore Exhibition Endowment.