MARY NEAL RICHARDSON A Universal Esthetic & Cosmic Interpreter

In 1903 The Boston Globe wrote, “Among her artists, Boston ranks many gifted women and several of those are to be found in that most Bohemian of artist colonies (Grundmann’s Studios.) One of the most talented of these studio artists is Mary Neal Richardson.” Mary Neal Richardson (1859-1937) was one of Boston’s foremost portrait artists of the early twentieth century, painting many professors, politicians, judges and members of the Boston Brahmin families. Beginning in 1886 she studied for three years at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (today’s MFA) earning a scholarship after only one year. In 1897 one of her portraits was shown “in the light” (in the best position) in France at the Paris Salon. Traveling back to the states, Mary set up her apartment in Boston’s Landmark Fenway Studios and maintained her art studio there for 29 years. She exhibited around the country alongside the likes of John Singer Sargent and Childe Hassam. In 1922, Mary created the culmination of her life’s work, the 10-foot painting, Aquarius, an allegory of references to the occult, astrology and the Bible. She traveled with it to the West Coast exhibiting at many locations and interpreting for the public its meaning and implications.
No image of the artist has been published since 1937 (until now) and this book illustrates over 40 color images of her work (much of it never before seen in public) and lists over 150 of her portraits. The story of her impressive contribution to Boston’s art scene has never been told.