Mid 20th Century Richard Whorf - Wedding Night Send-Off - Small Town Summer Nocturne -Oil on Board

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Nothing more traditional in wedding customs in America of the period than this delightful prank, the tying of old shoes … Read more Nothing more traditional in wedding customs in America of the period than this delightful prank, the tying of old shoes and tin cans to the car the happy couple will drive away in on their way to their honeymoon. But the artist has set the scene at night and turned the painting into a dreamy nocturne of small town life and manners and mores in a simpler time. The comedy is beautifully observed while a note of melancholy is struck by the lone passerby on the dark street and the man in his store next door just closing up. We love the unself-conscious elegance of the guests in their evening clothes, the men in white tuxes: it's a summer wedding.

Art measures 28 1/2" high x 37" and the frame is 31 1/4" high x 41".


Though eclipsed in the art world by his more famous older brother (John Whorf, 1903-1959), Richard Whorf was an accomplished artist in his own right. His oils and temperas are tightly painted and well composed. Best known as an American film actor and director, he painted as a hobby, then as a sideline, accepting commissions from time to time, though he had sold his first painting at age 15.

Richard Whorf was born on June 4, 1906, in Winthrop, Massachusetts, the brother of renowned painter John Whorf.  He began his career in acting as a teenager on the Boston stage, moving to Broadway when he was 21 years old.  He then moved to Hollywood, working in movies as a contract player in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming a director in 1944.
As a director he became best known for a number of television programs, most famously the comedy "The Beverly Hillbillies".Whorf's artistic talents found their ultimate expression on the big screen (and later television). In 1942, he starred with James Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and with Tracy and Hepburn in "Keeper of the Flame". Eight years later he starred with Humphrey Bogart in "Chain Lightning". His credits as film director included "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946), "Love From a Stranger" (1947), "It Happened in Brooklyn" (1947) and "Champagne for Caesar" (1950).

He created many small town paintings of the American landscape, inspired by painters like Grant Wood and Norman Rockwell. An artist whatever he touched. See less