For much of the twentieth century, the course of western art was marked by an ever-changing

succession of styles that came upon one another with a rapidity and assertiveness not previously

manifested so spectacularly in its history. As early as 1913 representational art tended

to become eclipsed by the more avant-garde applications, such as abstraction and cubism.

With the event of the landmark Armory Show in New York that year, modern art, as practiced

in Europe, and revealed in depth here for the first time, was introduced to America. Despite

this development, many American artists persisted in their allegiance to the native luministrealist

tradition, which had long dominated the nation’s art. As one critic of twentieth-century

American art, Clement Greenberg, saw it, “The visionary overtones [of major American painters

of the realist persuasion] move us all the more because they echo facts. This is perhaps the

most American note of all.”

Out of this time-honored tradition, the art of Eileen Monaghan Whitaker and Frederic

Whitaker has drawn its nourishment and special appeal. Monaghan’s early background as

a fashion illustrator and commercial art director was the impetus for her subsequent allegiance

to a realist mode for conceptualizing the world in terms of art. She has said that from childhood

she “always had a terrific urge to paint.” In the 1940s, she finally turned from the commercial

aspect of her career, devoting herself fully to easel painting. Not coincidentally, it was

during this time that she met and married Frederic Whitaker. A designer, businessman, and

entrepreneur, Whitaker was already an established artist, known for his mastery of watercolor.

This was the medium in which he created elaborately detailed designs for ecclesiastical

metalware for such prestigious enterprises as the Gorham Company and Tiffany, as well as

for his own multiple business ventures. Watercolor was the natural medium of expression

for Whitaker’s easel paintings. His example proved to be a formative influence on Monaghan,

herself an avid practitioner in the medium. To their credit, however, while carving out an intimate

life together, Monaghan and Whitaker firmly retained their own individuality in terms

of their styles of painting, each working in a distinctly personal manner.

In the New York art scene of the post–World War II era, perhaps no entity more resolutely

defended conservative values in art than the National Academy of Design. Founded in

1825, the academy included on its roster of members almost

every American artist of note since its inception. Whitaker was

among their number; moreover, from 1949 through 1957, he

served as president of the American Watercolor Society, which

was closely identified with the academy. Monaghan also became

a member of both these organizations during this period. Together

they saw the tectonic shift that American art underwent

in the late 1940s as traditional values rapidly gave way to radical

change, especially in the form of abstract expressionism. Suddenly,

the relevance of representational forms of art seemed to

be called into question.

For Monaghan and Whitaker, however, this was never

an issue. They continued steadfastly down the path they championed:

painting fine, traditional, representational artworks.

As Whitaker called it: “understandable art . . . art that is recognizable

to the viewer.” This, it seems, they were destined to do,

whether working at the center of artistic innovation in New

York City, or in the increasingly more receptive and open cultural

milieu of Southern California.

In 1965 Monaghan and Whitaker departed the New York

scene, relocating in La Jolla, California. For decades, California

had sustained a thriving art tradition of landscape and figurative

painting. Furthermore, many of the state’s leading artists specialized

in watercolor painting and were notably prominent in major

national venues, such as the American Watercolor Society. Significantly,

California was not the cultural desert that many Easterners

envisioned.

Long before their resettlement in La Jolla, the Whitakers

had traveled extensively in the American Southwest and Mexico,

accruing inspiration for their paintings. With their move to

California, they were afforded the luxury of proximity and

could concentrate fully upon subjects associated with this new

living environment. The result was an outpouring of work that

reflected their fascination with Native American and Hispanic

peoples and the street scenes they inhabited. As their art had

been invigorated during earlier travels throughout Europe, particularly

Spain, so it was stimulated by these exotic prospects

of the Southwest.

A major statement in the art of both Monaghan and

Whitaker is that they reject the commonly held notion

that watercolor must be spontaneous, that brilliance of technique

should be a primary ambition for the serious painter

of watercolors. Not so, they aver, and most convincingly.

A great achievement of their art is that it conceals the effort

of creation; it seems immediately realized and instinctive.

For both artists, in exceedingly different and individual ways,

a great amount of thoughtful preparation and execution lies

at the core of each picture.

In the nineteenth century, writers frequently referred to

watercolor as “the American medium,” largely because of the

sheer number of artists who embraced the medium and the

important place it had assumed in exhibitions and among an

avid public. Although art in our time has shifted into a variety

of expressive means that would have been unimaginable then,

watercolor yet claims the allegiance of many important American

artists working today. It is a tribute to Frederic Whitaker

and Eileen Monaghan Whitaker that their formidable talent

has enabled them to create watercolors of such unique and

personal vision. Each is truly an exemplary advocate for “the

American medium".                                                                       From: Jennings, Jan Noreus. 2004, "Contrasts that complement: Eileen Monaghan Whitaker & Frederic Whitaker", Marquand Books, the University of California.

When it came to painting, Frederic Whitaker knew exactly what he was doing. As a consummate

master of the watercolor medium, he had no difficulty in producing the precise effects he

wanted. But that was only the skilled craftsman’s side of his creativity. Of much greater importance

was what he could communicate to others through his art. After all, he had written: “The

purpose of art is to create a thing of beauty, to convey a thought or message of some kind, or

to provide inspiration to someone.” Whitaker’s wide, respectful, and affectionate acceptance as

a creative individual of substance, not only by his fellow artists and art professionals, but also

by the general public, proved conclusively that he practiced what he preached.

He was most emphatic in his insistence that art should not be dependent upon gimmickry

or fashion. An artist, he believed, should always be himself and paint what he knew and felt.

Modernism, with all its isms, did not impress him, especially when it required extensive explanations.

“Art that cannot explain itself had better be left undone,” was how he put it. At the

same time, he was opposed to photographically exact renderings. Nature was the artist’s raw

material, the source from which he drew his inspiration. It was to be sensitively and intelligently

interpreted and transformed into art, not mindlessly replicated. In short, he had a vision of art

that was poetic and mildly romantic, one that demanded he look beyond the surface appearances

of things to those deeper qualities and attributes of nature that help illuminate the meaning

of life and give art its significance as well.

To realize this vision, especially in a medium as temperamental as watercolor, Whitaker

had to be crystal clear about his objectives and totally in control of the steps necessary for

their actualization. Proof that he succeeded on both counts can be found in the hundreds of

impressive watercolors – thousands, if one counts his sketches and color studies – he produced

during his highly productive career. Any painting leaving his studio was certain to be honest,

direct, structurally sound, technically accomplished, and an effective argument for how seriously

watercolor deserved to be taken.

His range of subjects was remarkable. Nothing was too humble or too difficult for him

to tackle. He was as interested in the minutiae of nature – insects and flowers, for instance –

as he was in windswept seascapes, complex urban vistas, and depictions of human character. Animals, architectural details, and foreign people and places – to

say nothing of female nudes – also received his careful attention.

For someone who spent the early years of his working life

as a successful silversmith, Whitaker was wonderfully free and

spontaneous in his watercolors. Or so it seemed. In actuality,

the path from initial sketch and color study through detailed

preparatory drawing to final application of paint was as carefully

planned and executed as a military campaign – except that

Whitaker did not want it to appear that way. As he said, “My

aim in watercolor is to make something that looks absolutely

effortless, as if I had left it wet and it had accidentally dried into

a perfect picture.”

To Whitaker’s perception of art, nothing was more important

than good design and composition. If achieved, they helped

fulfill an artist’s grandest intentions. If not, the work produced

remained a weak reflection of nature or shapelessly incomplete.

His approach to composition was simplicity itself. He first

looked for a design pattern in his chosen subject. Once that had

been found, he broke down what lay before him into strategically

placed spots, shapes, and directional indicators that conformed

to his perceived pattern but minimized the realistic

aspects of his subject. The placement of these formal elements,

while suggested by the scene, was dictated primarily by the need

to establish the broad outline and structure of the painting he

was about to commence. Once these elements were in place –

but not before – the more detailed business of shaping a work

of art could begin.

Careful, concentrated effort still lay ahead in the studio.

The original small pencil sketch with notations of color, mood,

and details made in the field had to be translated into a color

study showing exactly the colors, values, and relationship of parts

as they would appear in the finished work. After that would

come the drawing on a full-sheet, three-hundred-pound, coldpress,

handmade, 100-percent rag paper. Following that, the

actual painting would begin. Slowly, his subject would come

to life. A blob of green would become foliage, a wash of brown,

a bridge, and a narrow vertical daub, a man walking in the distance.

Total time from start to finish: anywhere from five hours

to three days.

Once completed, the painting would find its way into

one of Whitaker’s East or West Coast galleries or into any one

of the numerous exhibitions, competitive and otherwise, that

he entered or to which he was invited. He was about as far from

being an ivory-tower artist as one can be, not only because he

saw himself as an active participant in the practical world of

creating art for an appreciative audience, but also because he

wanted to give back to the world “something more than it has

so generously given me.”

Whitaker fulfilled the responsibility he felt toward the

world, not only as a watercolorist who gave pleasure to the many

who bought his paintings or saw them in museums or galleries,

but also as a writer who contributed articles on other artists to

various art magazines. He was the author of a number of books

on art, most notably The Artist and the Real World, in which he

discussed his working methods and gave his frank, unvarnished

opinions on art, the art world, and what it meant to be an artist.

As if that were not enough, he held prominent positions in a

number of America’s most prestigious art organizations.

But it was as a watercolor painter that he was best

known and for which he most deserves to be celebrated. Despite

such outstanding advocates as Winslow Homer, John Singer

Sargent, John Marin, and Charles Burchfield, watercolor painting

has never been regarded as highly in American art circles

as works on canvas have. Perhaps this is because of its smaller

size and greater informality, or possibly because watercolor is

generally executed on paper. Whatever the reason, it was an unfortunate prejudice that Whitaker did his best to counter

by demonstrating repeatedly that watercolor was capable of

depth and monumentality as well as brilliant virtuoso effects.

Of course, he did not set out to raise the art world’s opinion

of his chosen medium. His objectives were more purely

aesthetic and communicative. He wanted to produce handsome,

well-designed, easily understood paintings that conveyed a feeling

or an idea in a pleasurable, no-nonsense, and occasionally

mildly inspirational manner. As an artist he stood firm. Nothing,

neither the desire to impress nor the need for a quick sale, would

ever be permitted to divert him from expressing himself as clearly,

fully, and honestly as possible.

Seen in this light and from the perspective of modernist

theory, his goals, while worthy, may appear unduly modest. But

that fails to take the works themselves into account. Even a brief

survey of his paintings will reveal not only that he remained true

to his intentions but also that he produced an impressive number

of watercolors that do honor to the medium by fulfilling

its highest standards and ideals. No more can be expected of

any artist.                                                                                     From: Jennings, Jan Noreus. 2004, "Contrasts that complement: Eileen Monaghan Whitaker & Frederic Whitaker", Marquand Books, the University of California.

Eileen Monaghan Whitaker, Academician in the National Academy of Design (NAD) was a member of the American Watercolor Society (AWS), listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Art, and throughout her career was a frequent juror for competitive art exhibitions nationwide. In 1948, she won an award in her first competitive exhibition and then went on to receive 87 major awards for her paintings.  She was elected to membership in AWS in 1953, and in 1957 to associate membership in the NAD, where she was elected full Academician in 1978. Whitaker painted representational watercolors that reflected the diversity of her many interests. People were always a major source of inspiration, as well as nature, architecture, still life, and the cultures of the Southwest, Mexico and Guatemala.  An emotional artist, Whitaker once said she “feels” her way through each painting. Born in Holyoke, Mass., Nov. 22, 1911, Eileen Monaghan studied at the Massachusetts College of Art and then worked in New York City as an artist and art director.  On Valentine’s Day 1943, she met watercolor artist Frederic Whitaker at a one-man exhibit of his works at New York’s Farargil Galleries. Their partnership was both personal and creative resulting in numerous two-person shows in San Diego, La Jolla, and Rancho Santa Fe, California during their nearly 40-year relationship and marriage. The rich extent of their lives and their work is featured in the book, Contrasts That Complement—Eileen Monaghan Whitaker and Frederic Whitaker, written by Jan Noreus Jennings, and published by Marquand Books in 2004. Frederic Whitaker died in 1980. Eileen Monahan Whitaker continued to paint prolifically. In 1982 she was commissioned by Copley Press to paint San Diego County. She explored the county for nearly four years, sketching, drawing, and photographing before completing the paintings in her La Jolla studio. The book, Eileen Monaghan Whitaker Paints San Diego, was published in 1986. After extensive travels to Guatemala in the 80s, in 1990, Eileen Monaghan Whitaker had a one-person exhibit Eileen Monaghan Whitaker: Watercolors of Guatemala and Mexico at the Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington. Eileen Monaghan Whitaker painted regularly until she was in her mid-90s and continued as the head of the Frederic Whitaker and Eileen Monaghan Whitaker Foundation up until her death in 2005.                                                                                                                                                From: Jennings, Jan Noreus. 2004, "Contrasts that complement: Eileen Monaghan Whitaker & Frederic Whitaker", Marquand Books, the University of California.