Hidden Histories, Historical Marker Resource

Conrad Aiken

This Hidden History was created by SCAD student Raven Zhou as part of their SCAD art history department coursework, with guidance from art history professor Holly Goldstein, Ph.D., in 2023.

The Conrad Aiken historical marker was dedicated in 1980. View the Conrad Aiken historical marker listing.

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Illustrations

Figure. 1: Historical Marker of Conrad Aiken. Courtesy of Georgia Historical Center. Photo credit to Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Figure. 2: Photograph of Mary Augusta Hoover, Wikimedia.

Figure. 3: Conrad and Mary Aiken in Jeake’s House, Rye, 1938. Selected Letters of Conrad Aiken.

Figure. 4: “41 Doors”, Brewer. Photo by Fraser Bonnell.

Figure. 5: The artist at work outside the Aikens' New York City apartment. Photo from Killorin Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Figure. 6: Grave of Aiken’s, added by Brandi. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2624/conrad-aiken

Figure. 7: Gravestone of Conrad and Mary Aiken, added by Joyce Kai. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2624/conrad-aiken

Figure. 8: Conrad and Mary Aiken with Mary’s portrait of T.S. Eliot, 1955. Photo by Eileen Darby, reproduced by courtesy of Graphic House, Inc., New York.

Figure. 9: Café Fortune Teller, Telfair Museum, photo by Raven Zhou, April 2023.

Figure. 10: Conrad Aiken, Mary Hoover Aiken, 1938, oil on canvas, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Figure. 11: To Mary Hoover Aiken, Animation by Raven Zhou.

Artist Statement

In that era, many female artists often could not rely on their own talents to be noticed, but were discovered because they happened to be associated with recognized men. When I visited the Telfair Museum and saw her painting Café Fortune Teller, I was drawn to the painting itself but did not notice the artist's name. Instead, I stumbled upon the fact that Mary was the author while investigating Conrad Aiken. I hope to take this opportunity to put neglected female artists in the spotlight.

However, after completing the individual investigation on Mary Hoover, herself, I decided to make my visual component reflecting on both of them. I drew inspiration from the letters that Conrad wrote to Mary, especially one in the “seven weeks’ separation”. The frame-by-frame animation (Fig. 11) that I made is a visualization of a complete letter of Conrad, in which shows a man not only a great writer but a normal one who we too as normal people would have empathy with. And Mary Hoover’s figure as a recognized artist as well as a beloved partner is finally brought to life.

Conrad Aiken

Hidden Histories, Historical Marker Resource

Conrad Aiken

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Newsletter

Jepson House Education Center*

Research Center

Atlanta office*