The Whipples
Oil on canvas
1940 Hilda Belcher
The Whipples were neighbors of Pittsford artist Hilda Belcher (1881-1963). The girl's name was Nellie, the young boy was Joseph called Joe, and the older boy's name is unknown.
Hilda Belcher was born in Pittsford but later moved to New Jersey, were she attended school. She studied at the Arts Students' League in New York City with Robert Henri, George Luks, George Bellows, and Kenneth Hayes-Miller, and became a prominent prize-winning artist specializing in portraiture. She was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1926 and became a full academician in 1932. Examples of Belcher's work are owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, the Newark Museum, the High Museum, Vassar College, Middlebury College, and the Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont. In 1940 Middlebury awarded her an honorary degree as one of Vermont's leading artists. Belcher's mother, Martha Wood Belcher, was also a talented artist and both maintained a home and studio in Pittsford throughout their lives.
