As the nation’s first hospital – and specifically one with ties to revolutionaries like Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush – Pennsylvania Hospital has been the site for many of the United States’ noteworthy medical, historical, and cultural milestones. More recently, PAH was invited to provide the setting for another historical event, this time in the realm of politics and art.
It began when a Penn Medicine donor, Josephine (Pina) Templeton, reached out to local artist and professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), Renée P. Foulks, and commissioned a painting to memorialize a historic partnership that had inspired her late husband, John (Jack) Templeton, Jr., MD. Dr. Templeton was passionate about maintaining civility and respect in politics, and he felt that the relationship between political rivals and “friends after 6:00 p.m.,” President Ronald Reagan and former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, was a prime example of that balance.
The painting, titled Contract and Covenant, depicts an event that occurred three days after the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan. O'Neill was the first outsider to visit him in the hospital following the shooting, and in recognition of the seriousness of the situation, the two men put aside their stark political differences and prayed together, reciting Psalm 23. The PAH connection to all of this? While Reagan was treated at George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C., Foulks and Pina Templeton chose PAH to serve as a model for the portrait.
“When Theresa Larivee forwarded the artist’s request onto me a little over a year ago, I thought it was a really unique and special opportunity for us to participate in, even in a small way,” said Jeff O’Neill, AIA, ACHA, CHFM, senior director of Facilities. “I picked a patient room on 6 Schiedt with ample light for the artist to use, and soon enough, she arrived with two models – ‘Reagan’ in pajamas and ‘Tip O’Neill’ in a suit – and set up the scene. It was about a half a day’s work, and it was pretty exciting to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process.”
While the subjects of the portrait were not health care professionals, their partnership amidst challenges certainly echoes PAH’s dedication to fostering collaboration and trust across departments, units, and specialties, and to showing compassion for every patient, family member, and colleague, regardless of background. The painting was completed earlier this fall, and The Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League of Philadelphia organized a formal unveiling and a panel about the importance of bipartisanship and civility in politics. The panel was moderated by radio host and TV presenter, Michael Smerconish, and included MSNBC commentator and former chief of staff for Tip O’Neill, Chris Matthews, and author and former speechwriter and advisor to President Reagan, Mark Weinberg.
“I had the good fortune to attend the unveiling, and the artist was kind enough to mention Pennsylvania Hospital in her remarks,” O’Neill said. “Seeing the final product after having watched the early process was really exciting and gratifying – the poses were the same, and our sheets, our bed, and our oxygen regulators are in the portrait! The only thing new were their faces and Tip O’Neill’s hands; the artist had visited his son and used his hands as a model. The painting really reflected the vision, and it is a great symbol of how people can fundamentally disagree or be very different, and they can still work together for the common good.”
If you’re interested in checking out the results of 6 Schiedt’s 15 minutes of fame, the painting will be displayed at the Union League until January 2019. It will then travel to PAFA, then to Washington, D.C.