Mary Diana Converse sculpted by Samuel James Kitson. Photo by Camille Nommi Nzepa.
Check out the photo gallery of the Art Night here.
In the greater Boston communities, individual histories of the surrounding cities are not usually revisited. And yet, there is a lot of unvisited history. The Malden Public Library frequently hosts nights where a little more background history is given about Malden and its neighboring cities.
This past Tuesday, March 12th, the Malden Public Library held an Art Night in honor of Women’s History Month. This event celebrated Women’s history in Art. At six p.m., a handful of Malden residents gathered at the front of the library where they met with Dora St. Martin, Director of the Malden public library, who then led the tour.
St. Martin (who goes by Dora on the tour) led the attendees into the Converse Memorial Building (informally known as the old Library). The Converse Memorial Building (1885) was put on the National Register of Historic Places. This part of the library is also the very place where Seth MacFarlane’s Movie Ted 2 was filmed with Mark Wahlberg. St. Martin asserted that renting out this part of the library is “one of the many ways the library acquires money” as “it is not funded by the city because it does not belong to the city of Malden.” She stated that the money often goes into maintaining the state of the library and buying new artwork.
As St. Martin began the tour, she informed her audience that all the artwork displayed is only a third of the collection of artwork the library has in its possession while the rest is stored until staff at the library feel it necessary to swap out those for new ones. The fraction of artwork that
This Art Night in honor of Women’s History Month was a gesture to recognize the many women who weren’t very well recognized in their time for their artistic capabilities. Some of these women were from the Malden community and neighboring cities such as Chelsea, Somerville etc.
In the Converse Memorial building, over 10 different artworks displayed were done by women or gave a portrayal of women. Of the many female artists St. Martin highlighted, Constance Stella and Irene Rice Pereira were the ones closest to the Malden community. Constance Stella, mother of widely known artist Frank Stella, was from Malden. She did not start out as an artist but later decided to tap into her artistic talent. Irene Rice Pereira, who was born and raised in Chelsea, showcased her art in New York City as “I Pereira.” Her art was distinct from the other art displayed as she painted on black paper. Two of her art work displayed were “Sorrows of an old Star” and what St. Martin referred to as the “Twins,” as it was not titled.
St. Martin covered paintings done by other women as well as paintings with female influence disclosing their stories, the art and the type of materials used to produce the art. Although there were some women in this collection, there were not many painters. St. Martin explained that “there was gender bias in the art community because of the market demand and at the time it was men who bought and or controlled the money from the art.” In addition, she added that “it was not like there were no great female artists, it is just their art was not being purchased.”
This Art Night led by St. Martin was one of the few tours hosted at the library. If not for Mary Diana Converse, who is often recognized in the shadow of her husband Elijah Converse, the collection the library has in its possession, would not have been possible. “When she passed away in 1903, she left a will for all her money, 15,000 dollars at the time, to go only towards the purchasing of art,” according to St. Martin.
The greater Boston area certainly has
Check out the photo gallery of the Art Night here.
