Presidential portraits and the Americana of weathervanes at Hilbert Museum
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Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill grew up not far from the Hilbert Museum in Orange, with her artist father, Emigdio Vasquez. She posed for the celebrated muralist and “Godfather of Chicano Art,” appearing in his 1974 work, “Saturday Night at Leo’s” shown at the museum earlier this year. She eventually became his gallery liaison and exhibit coordinator.
Vasquez Tuthill picked up a thing or two when it came to painting as well.
“She worked on some of his paintings after he passed, but she is also a talented artist in her own right,” said Mary Platt, Hilbert Museum director.
In celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary, the Hilbert Museum presents “USA 250 Presidential Portraits by Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill,” a limited run exhibition in the North Hall lobby featuring eight of her presidential portraits.
Some of them were originally created for the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda.
“After her first president portrait came out, she planned on doing all 45,” said Platt.
The “Presidential Portraits” are deeply detailed and distinctly Vasquez Tuthill. The collection includes the likeness of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Each of the presidents are painted in front of an American flag with special characteristics that reference significant moments during their presidency.
For example, the Fort Sumter “storm flag” hangs behind Lincoln, marking his leadership during the American Civil War. Kennedy is backed by an American flag that resembles the first flag placed on the moon by Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission.
Just off the North Hall lobby, inside the Burra Family Community Room, a different sort of Americana is on display. “Wind from the West: California Iron Weathervanes” features a collection of handcrafted, vintage weathervanes.
“Most of these are from the Palm Springs area, some are from the movie colony, mostly from the 1920s and ’30s,” said Platt.
On loan from the Marty Newman Collection, the weathervanes are creatively displayed atop 2D yarn outlines of structures found in the area during the time period, like a church, barn, house and gas station.
“The one on top of the gas station is from a Mobile gas station from 1937,” Mark Hilbert, the museum’s co-founder, said of an iron rendering of the famous flying red horse logo.
Mostly commissioned by homeowners of Southern California’s growing resort communities a century ago, weathervanes are an example of true American folk art in the sense that the ornamental pieces were not created as fine art but rather, as tools meant for everyday life. Or course, functionality is not with form and the craftsmanship is whimsical and creative.
Platt said certain silhouettes became especially fashionable.
“Spanish Galleon ships were a very popular motif, which refer to Cabrillo’s encounters with California and the West Coast,” said Platt. “Then of course there are the farm things, like roosters and horses.”
Often times the weathervanes reflected the homeowners’ personality or interests and since many of the California desert residents were in the movie industry, it wasn’t uncommon to see weathervanes depicting creative scenes, like one included in the show of the fictional hero Zorro on horseback.
“The original Zorro character was introduced in a book that came out in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley,” said Platt. “He became the Robin Hood of early California and then in 1920 the famous first Zorro movie came out, so by then he was a national craze. Whoever’s house this was must have been a Zorro fan.”
Although unrelated, the two exhibitions work in tandem to represent the stories and experiences of American life reflected in art. They are also a testimony to the breadth of narrative artwork the Hilbert Museum continues to offer.
“USA 250 Presidential Portraits by Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill” and “Wind from the West: California Iron Weathervanes” are on view now at the Hilbert Museum of California Art, 167 N. Atchison St., in Orange. For details, visit hilbertmuseum.org.
