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.

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.

Aiken, C., & Killorin, J., Selected letters of Conrad Aiken. Yale University Press. 1978, 209-227
Aiken, Mary Hoover. Café Fortune Teller. Telfair Museums. January 1970. https://collections.telfair.org/objects/4052/cafe-fortune-teller?ctx=79ad1b6579d8d03ba018e54efa6b2b430fdb0d55&idx=0
Beyond the sea: Impressionism and modern painting in Europe. Telfair Museums. https://www.telfair.org/exhibitions/beyond-the-sea/
Historical Marker of Conrad Aiken. Gorgia Historical Center. https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/conrad-aiken/
Independent Digital News and Media. Obituary: Mary Hoover Aiken. The Independent. October 26, 1992. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-mary-hoover-aiken-1559685.html
Wikimedia Foundation. Mary Hoover Aiken. Wikipedia. February 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hoover_Aiken
Women artists in Savannah, 1920–1960. (2018, July 11). Telfair Museums. https://www.telfair.org/exhibitions/women-artists-in-savannah-1920-1960/