Congratulations on receiving the Art History/Museum Studies Scholarship for Fall 2025 and best wishes ongoing to: Nora Ann Kosch, a Senior at Drew University majoring in Art History and minoring in History and Medieval Studies.
“In this tumultuous time in our world, where the Arts and Historical education are being threatened with underfunding or complete erasure, I hope to become a defender within these fields. As I gain more experience as a future educator, I aim to become an inspirational educator and advocate for further education in vulnerable and minority communities. In achieving this goal, I want to foster and create welcoming spaces for anyone to continue learning the Arts and History. Once I complete my bachelor’s degree, I plan to continue on to my master’s in Art History and teach for diverse audiences at museums or higher education. I would love to participate in these fields and continue on this tradition of learning the value of Art History and History, including the other fields of the humanities.”
Honorable Mention ESSAY: Compare and contrast the 2 paintings below:
Nora’s Essay:
Within Eileen Monaghan Whitaker’s watercolor, she captures the feeling of a moment between two reuniting figures. Her work captures an anthropomorphized interpretation of a rooster and hen, placing them in the position of what seems to be friends or something more. The title alludes to an unexpected greeting between two figures, and the effect applied to the background by Monaghan Whitaker’s use of wet strokes of watercolor is reminiscent of the world “fading away” as we so often hear about in scenes of unification. Like many of her other works, Fancy Meeting You Here is placed in a composition where the floating use of abstract shapes creates a dream-like world for these two chickens. Her application of wet strokes comes about clearly in the detail she creates within each of the chickens’ feathers, although they are blurry compared to Frederic Whitaker’s; her layering of wet watercolor gives the image of feathers resting atop one another.
Monaghan Whitaker places the viewer in the exact moment these two make eye contact with one another, that electrifying feeling that one has when meeting someone from the past, and the distinct bursting of various colors portraying potentially mixed feelings. This use of contrasting the primarily blue-green color of the background, as opposed to the rooster and the hen’s vivid red combs and wattles, draws the audience to the eye contact between the two. It seems as if both were sizing the other up for either a tense or flirtatious interaction to come. However, with the creation of two animals of the same species and opposite sex, the latter might be the interaction that may occur.
Although incredibly anthropomorphized, Eileen Monaghan Whitaker’s work differs from her husband’s interpretation of chickens from over two decades earlier in 1963. Frederic Whitaker takes a more detailed route within his watercolors, and Gallinaceous Gathering is no different. He depicts the chickens as what they are. Chickens. Here we see Whitaker placing all twelve hens on a tranquil farm, as if the viewer were the farmer walking amongst the gaggle doing their daily chores. His work is littered with simple behaviors typical of animals rather than an intimate interaction as seen in Monaghan Whitaker’s work, where some bend low to the ground to eat feed scattered in the grass or strutting at attention. Whitaker repeatedly emphasizes his use of intricate strokes in this work, as he layers wet colors before strategically placing dryer colors on top to create further dimension. This can be seen in the feathering of each of the hens and the detail given to the dirt and grass; however, this technique shines in the creation of a shadow over the chickens and grass placed in the middle ground of this work.
We can see this choice of darker green coloring does not put the viewer off guard; in fact, it creates a visually appealing composition. Whitaker uses a complementary palette of washed-out (compared to Monaghan Whitaker’s) greens and reds throughout Gallinaceous Gathering and balances his work in a seamless transition from one corner to another. Scattered about in the large use of varying shades of green is the faint pop of reds throughout the work, Whitaker makes sure the viewer’s eye is drawn from one hen to another. In the foreground is placed a large patch of dirt, perhaps a “desire path” created by the daily routine of the farmer and animal, and as the eye moves to the top right corner where a black comfortably sat, we have a blot of dark brown surrounded by green. This effective use of color balances out the overall palette and what would have been an off-centered composition, but Whitaker applies his understanding of color and technique to create a picture that appeals to the eyes.
These two works, as opposing as they are color-wise, from vibrant to pale, each convey the deep personalities of the artists who painted them. Eileen Monaghan Whitaker is not shy in her expressive work, Fancy Meeting You here, and does not wilt in the application of an abstract background to create the expectation of a lively interaction between rooster and hen. Although he is meticulous and detailed down to the grass and feathers, Frederic Whitaker’s attentiveness to his depiction of agricultural scenes communicates his eye for artistic technique and love for the medium. One thing remains clear to the viewer despite differing style and expression: the Whitakers held an understanding and undying devotion to the art of watercolors in these exemplary works.
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