Recently hosted at the Norman Rockwell Museum, closing in June, was the exhibition Mystery and Wonder: Highlights from the Illustration Collection. Within the collection was the museum’s highlight, and the most recently acquired piece, Whig and Tory, executed in 1938 by the famous American painter and illustrator, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978).
This oil on canvas illustration is quite significant in that it remained unpublished in any magazines the artist was known for working with—most famously The Saturday Evening Post.
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Whig and Tory, 1938. Oil on canvas. Unpublished story illustration. Norman Rockwell Museum Collection. Gift of A. James and Alice B. Clark, NRM.2023.07.
“Rockwell’s enthusiasm for new projects always propelled him through the idea stage, but with Post commissions taking precedence, they were sometimes derailed,” explains museum representatives. “The meaning of this recently acquired Rockwell story illustration is a mystery, as it was unpublished and its intended narrative is unclear.”
The title of the work references two opposing Revolutionary War-era factions. Early activists in the colonies referred to themselves as Whigs, and in their fight for independence, they became known as Patriots. Tories, in contrast, were American Loyalists who supported the English monarchy.
“It has been suggested that this tense scene featuring two men in historical dress seated back-to back portrays Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (or possibly Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s running mate) as they await the results of Congress in its attempt to break a tie vote for the presidential election of 1800,” representatives elaborate. “Jefferson, a democratic republican, ultimately defeated Adams, a federalist, by an electoral vote of 73 to 65. After 36 ballots, the federalist-controlled House elected Jefferson president on February 17, 1801.”
The museum continues, “One aspect of the work does seem clear. Rockwell employed his close friend and frequent model, Fred Hildebrandt, as the lanky figure in the foreground, and possibly, as the man slumped in his chair seen in profile. Hildebrandt was an artist himself who posed for Rockwell and his fellow illustrators in Vermont for the better part of a decade.”
Whig and Tory certainly enriches the museum’s holdings of an astounding 100,000 items from the Norman Rockwell Archives and 998 paintings and drawings by the artist, along with adding to the museum’s mission to “illuminate the power of American illustration art to reflect and shape society, and advancing the enduring values of kindness, respect and social equity.”
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