Story by Donna Swagerty Shreve
This family painting was hard to get rid of or ignore. First consider its size. The rough wooden frame was six inches wide and it surrounded an imposing picture. The entire framed creation measured three feet square.
I saw this family “treasure” right after I married in 1967. I remember my initial reaction was not favorable. The large size made it difficult to find a place to hang it. The second problem became the actual painting’s technique, style and subject matter.
The artist in question was my husband John’s eccentric Aunt Adele. She had taken up oil painting as a hobby. This particular painting she gave as a present to her younger brother, Uncle Nelson and his wife Lucille.
Nelson and Lucille were leaving San Francisco to live in Tahiti for a few years. As they packed their belongings, they only took essentials. John and I were setting up our new household and we were chosen to be the guardians of Aunt Adele’s painting.
Aunt Adele and her husband plus Uncle Nelson and Aunt Lucille all came to our wedding. I got to fake my joy as all Shreve family members were in attendance for the presentation. Uncle Nelson caught John’s eye and actually rolled his eyes as the painting was given over.
Aunt Adele made sure to point out all of the not so subtle details of the painting to us so we could receive the full impact. Imagine a colorful tropical scene with palm trees throughout. There were various groups of dark skinned native people dressed in supposed native costumes interspersed throughout the trees. The front of the painting contains a bench with a native man and woman seated with another man standing behind the seated couple. The painting lacked many details and came across as simplistic and stylized. As you look at the seated couple, you notice the man has one of his hands in the woman’s crotch. To add to the mood, the man, who is standing behind the couple, has reached over the woman and placed one of his hands on the woman’s breasts. The seated woman completes the triangle with her hand on the seated man’s crotch. The linked trio was expressionless.
I now faced the dilemma of where to place the hanging. We were moving into a studio apartment with limited space. My parents had a downstairs bedroom that my brothers shared. No one except them used it. That was where Aunt Adele’s painting began her visit with us. My brothers found it amusing so all were happy with the arrangement.
That painting remained in obscurity in that bedroom for over four years. In the meantime, John and I moved to Connecticut to return four years later. About this time Uncle Nelson and Aunt Lucille moved from Tahiti to Hawaii. The dilemma of what we were going to do with the painting was solved when Nelson and Lucille paid for shipping and packing and asked for the return of their family “treasure.” We thought our guardianship was done.
For our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, John and I traveled to Hawaii and included a visit to Uncle Nelson and Aunt Lucille and the painting. The painting didn’t even come up in conversation. Six years ago Aaron, my oldest, and his family went with me to Hawaii. Aaron and I went to visit Lucille who was now a widow in her nineties. As she was dying of skin cancer, we were there to say goodbye.
During our visit I saw the famous painting on the side- wall in the living area. I pointed it out to Aaron as he had heard the history. Aunt Lucille got quite excited and ordered Aaron to take it off her wall immediately. She could not be talked out of it. She decided we were the perfect recipients of this family treasure.
As a side note, Uncle Nelson had planned to give his worldly riches to John and his three other siblings. They owned a huge lot and a home one block from a beautiful protected beach on the north side of Oahu. The property alone was worth several millions. Nelson died first so everything went to Lucille. She decided to give the sizable estate to her friendly neighbor.
Aaron and I left our visit with the painting in tow. We met up with Aaron’s wife and mother-in-law who had been hanging out at the nearby beach instead of visiting an unknown relative. As soon as Rita caught sight of the painting in the back of the car she proclaimed, “That better not be coming anywhere near our house!”
We then returned to my cousin’s home where we were staying. As we removed the painting from the car, she bluntly stated, “I certainly hope you were not considering leaving me that.” Cousin Diane took me the next day to a local packing and shipping store. For only $250, I was able to ship the painting back to Stockton. John was not happy. I rubbed it in by telling him at least Aunt Lucille was giving him something.
I found a space in our guest bedroom and hung the heavy large painting in a limited space between two doors. Soon after adding the painting to the guest room, my brother visited and spent the night. The next morning Brian emerged from the room and commented, “I didn’t know you were into tropical art.” I then told him the history of the painting.
Several years later, John’s sister Adele was spending the night. This Adele is the fourth Adele in as many generations in the Shreve family. She made the mistake of admiring Aunt Adele’s painting. Please realize that when the painting returned to our home, I took a picture of it and sent out an offer of the possible gift to all Shreve family members. There were no takers at that time.
Since the first offer of the painting, Adele’s professional painter husband had moved out of the home. She was now free to decorate any way she wanted. As soon as she displayed her enthusiasm for the painting, John quickly wrapped and loaded the treasure into her car. The painting had found a happy home with a namesake of the creator.
The next time Aaron and family visited, Aaron noticed the difference in the room. He came to me in a quandary and asked if a family picture was missing. As I looked him straight and replied, “Oh you had your chance!”
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 