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Exhibition History“Facing History: The Black Image in American Art,” Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, January 13, 1990 – March 26, 1990; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, April 20, 1990 – June 25, 1990.
“Portrait of a People: Picturing Africa Americans in the Nineteenth Century,” Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, August 26, 2006 – November 26, 2006; Delaware Art Museum, DE, April 21, 2006 – July 17, 2006; Addison Gallery, Andover, MA, January 4, 2006 – March 26, 2006.
“Through the Eyes of Others: Africa Americans and Identity in American Art,” New York State Museum, Albany, NY, August 23, 2008 – December 31, 2008.
“Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, New York, January 24, 2013 – May 27, 2013; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 26, 2012 – December 31, 2012.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, July 7, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
"The Fortens of Philadelphia", Museum of American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA, February 11, 2023 - November 26, 2023.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp.134-135, ill. no. 79.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C.Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic (exh. cat. Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 19-20, no. 29, ill. 29.
Forum Gallery, "The Portrayal of the Negro in American Painting." [exhibition catalog] New York: Forum Gallery, 1967: 4 [illustration].
Jacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior (exh. cat. New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012).
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Portraits of a People: Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century (Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, 2006), pp.106-107, illus. as fig. 34 on p.107.
Attributed to
William Matthew Prior
(1806 - 1873)
Subject
William Whipper
(1804 - 1876)
William Whipper
Datec. 1845
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 26 7/8 × 22 1/2 × 2 in. (68.3 × 57.2 × 5.1 cm)
Sight: 24 × 19 in. (61 × 48.3 cm)
Object numberN0246.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextOne of Prior’s most notable sitters, William Whipper (1804-1876) undoubtedly met William Matthew Prior during one of his many trips to Boston for anti-slavery conventions in the 1840s. Whipper, the son of a successful white lumber merchant and a Black house servant was born near Lancaster, Pennsylvania in about 1800. He operated a “free labor and temperance” grocery in Philadelphia in the 1830s where he became a leading supporter of progressive causes and was very active in the operation of the Underground Railroad, contributing both money and time to aid fugitives from slavery. Whipper’s prosperity is clearly evident in his fashionable clothing and jewelry. The book, initialed “W W,” is the key to his identification here, as his grandson told the Museum that everything his grandfather owned was monogrammed this way.Exhibition History“Facing History: The Black Image in American Art,” Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, January 13, 1990 – March 26, 1990; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, April 20, 1990 – June 25, 1990.
“Portrait of a People: Picturing Africa Americans in the Nineteenth Century,” Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, August 26, 2006 – November 26, 2006; Delaware Art Museum, DE, April 21, 2006 – July 17, 2006; Addison Gallery, Andover, MA, January 4, 2006 – March 26, 2006.
“Through the Eyes of Others: Africa Americans and Identity in American Art,” New York State Museum, Albany, NY, August 23, 2008 – December 31, 2008.
“Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, New York, January 24, 2013 – May 27, 2013; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, May 26, 2012 – December 31, 2012.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, July 7, 2014 – September 29, 2014.
"The Fortens of Philadelphia", Museum of American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA, February 11, 2023 - November 26, 2023.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association," Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp.134-135, ill. no. 79.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C.Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic (exh. cat. Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), pp. 19-20, no. 29, ill. 29.
Forum Gallery, "The Portrayal of the Negro in American Painting." [exhibition catalog] New York: Forum Gallery, 1967: 4 [illustration].
Jacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior (exh. cat. New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012).
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Portraits of a People: Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century (Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, 2006), pp.106-107, illus. as fig. 34 on p.107.
On View
Not on viewc. 1860-1865
c. 1885-1887
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