PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Freeman's will offer a rare socio-political painting by Rockwell Kent, Wake Up, America!, as part of its December 6th American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists sale. The canvas debuts at auction with a $200,000 - $300,000 pre-sale estimate, the first socio-political canvas of that caliber to ever come up at auction.

Witnessing the rise of fascist leaders across Europe, Kent temporarily put aside his anti-war beliefs in the early 1940s, creating a series of works to motivate his country to mount a resistance. Wake Up, America! spent decades in private hands and has never been offered at auction until now. All comparable Kent pieces are now held in museum collections, including the Baltimore Museum of Art and Columbus Museum of Art.

In Wake Up, America!, Kent's dramatic iconography stresses the urgency of the situation. The Amazon-like figure representing the Spirit of War stands among flaming ruins, urging a sleeping America to wake and join the fight. In the bleak imagery, a single white flower in America's hands represents hope that is wilted, but still living.

The painting was exhibited in the 1940s to boost the war effort, and was also among the works representing Kent in several retrospectives throughout the decades. Drawings and watercolors in preparation for Wake Up, America! are currently held in the Library of Congress.

In this auction, Wake Up, America! joins a star-studded catalog of Pennsylvania Impressionists and 20th-century American art icons. Offered alongside it is Norman Rockwell's The Melody Stilled by Cold, an early example of Rockwell’s groundbreaking advertisements. The auction will also provide an excellent opportunity for collectors to acquire the finest examples of paintings by Pennsylvania Impressionists including Daniel Garber and Edward Willis Redfield.