Peggy Bacon (1895–1987), Quarrelsome Gnomes

Peggy Bacon (1895–1987)
Quarrelsome Gnomes, 1952
Black and brown ink, watercolor and ink wash on paper, 12×18 inches
Gift of the Reverend Richard L. Hillstrom in honor of Stephen Nelson

Bacon was particularly known for her works of social commentary, including Off With Their Heads, a 1934 book of caricatures coupled with biting epigrams. The title of this drawing sets its tone and helps to explain its satirical approach. The strange, cramped setting is based on a specific locale, “Cottage City,” on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the site of summer camping by Methodist ministers and their families starting in the mid-1800s. Over the years, the camping sites on which tents were pitched were acquired by particular families and eventually tiny, closely-spaced homes were erected.

In this nighttime scene, Bacon presents a drama, laying out clues like a skilled mystery writer (Bacon, in fact, won an Edgar Allen Poe Mystery Award for her 1953 mystery The Inward Eye). In the center of the work is a house with especially elaborate gingerbread decoration, and on its porch are a young couple engaged in a heated discussion. Neighbors and bystanders, including a cat, eavesdrop on their argument, some more blatantly than others. A “For Sale” sign is tacked to the unhappy little cottage, and a young child is seen upstairs, forlornly listening to his parents’ bickering, his expression one of miserable foreboding. While Bacon satirizes all the busybodies, she shows distinct sympathy for this poor child of an unsettled and perhaps soon to be divorced household.

Text from the catalogue for the exhibition The Eight, The Ashcan School, and The American Scene in the Hillstrom Collection, presented in the Hillstrom Museum of Art February 25 through April 21, 2013.