James Welu, Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum, Cites the Work of Travis Simpkins in Holy Cross Project

Helen Merriman and the Worcester Art Museum by James Welu

     In addition to his position as Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum, Jim Welu is also a professor of Art History at the College of the Holy Cross. In an online project regarding Museum benefactor Helen Bigelow Merriman, Dr. Welu included a link to Travis Simpkins' WAM blog concerning information about the original 1897 building of the Worcester Art Museum.

Read Jim Welu's full Holy Cross article on Helen Merriman here:

college.holycross.edu/projects/Worcester_Art_Museum

Helen Bigelow Merriman: An Early WAM Benefactor. A Portrait by Cecelia Beaux (1855-1942)

Helen Bigelow Merriman, 1908. by Cecelia Beaux (1855-1942)

     "The portrait of Helen Bigelow Merriman was painted in 1908. Merriman was chosen as a subject because she was a woman of society, and also an artist herself. Yount mentioned that Merriman was ten years Beaux’s senior and withdrew from the Boston art world after her marriage in 1874 and birth of her child in 1876 and focused on writing. Beaux, on the other hand, could not reconcile her career with marriage and motherhood, and therefore chose to remain single. Yount reminded us that the need to choose between career or marriage was a frequent hurdle for women artists in the 1870’s." -Worcester Women's History Project