Melinda Kirkpatrick Folk Art Painting of a Sperm Whale, White Whale and Ship

Details

Description

Melinda Kirkpatrick Folk Art Painting of a Sperm Whale, White Whale and Ship
American, Contemporary, 21st Century

This American folk … Read more Melinda Kirkpatrick Folk Art Painting of a Sperm Whale, White Whale and Ship
American, Contemporary, 21st Century

This American folk art painting by Melinda Kirkpatrick shows a great black sperm whale swimming across the foreground of a blue-green sea. The whale is painted in profile to the left, its open jaws lined in red and set with rows of white dot teeth, its round white eye fixed on the viewer and a single looping spout rising from its head. Beyond it a white whale rears straight up out of the water with its jaws agape, a figure that inevitably recalls Moby Dick.

On the horizon to the right a three-masted ship sails under a full press of square sails with pennants at her mastheads and an American flag at the stern, while a small sloop runs before the wind between the ship and the whale. The sea is laid in with bands of teal crossed by white wave crests beneath a pale, clouded sky. The picture is painted on panel and is set in a Victorian deep molded wood frame with a gilt inner liner.

Dimensions

Marks
Signed “Melinda” in pencil on the reverse of the panel. The back of the frame bears an old stenciled number.

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

Condition
Good.

References
For another whale subject by the artist, similarly signed “Melinda” on the reverse, see Eldred’s, East Dennis, Massachusetts, Summer Living, June 25, 2026, lot 7522, a folk art scene of a whale and American flag bunting, acrylic on board, 24 x 30 inches.

“Meet the Artist: Melinda Kirkpatrick of Flowerness Farm,” Cailíní Coastal.

Historical Context
Melinda Kirkpatrick is a contemporary Massachusetts folk painter who works as Flowerness Farm in Brimfield, the town known for its antique shows. She has painted since childhood, has spoken of feeling “a strong almost mythical connection to folk art traditions,” and draws her subjects from literature and history. Her pictures are made with reclaimed materials and set in antique frames, as here, so that each new painting carries something of the age of the tradition it continues. Whales, whaleships and Nantucket scenes recur throughout her work, which looks back to the naive ship portraits, scrimshaw and painted trade signs of the New England whaling ports.

(Ref: NY11281-iarp) See less