WHM Great Hall Learn More
Portrait of William Brown and Martha Ann Tulip Lewis (Brown)
Portrait of William Brown and Martha Ann Tulip Lewis (Brown). 2023. Oil on canvas, 119 x 83 in.
This painting was part of a program to bring impactful Black and Indigenous Americans to the walls of the Great Hall Portrait Gallery (WMH) in Worcester, MA., and was unveiled in April of 2024.
ARTICLES
Portraits Project Set to Transform Mechanics Hall with Three Portraits of Black Americans by Richard Duckett
'Every color, every object is symbolic,' Zlamany said. 'I'm hoping it makes the viewer curious enough to go on their own journey of discovery.'
Black History Month Shines a Light on Black Americans' Impact on Worcester's Culture By Victor D. Infante
Perhaps the longest-awaited event this month has been the arrival of three portraits honoring prominent 19th-century Black Americans at Mechanics Hall.
Portraits of Historic Black Americans Now Grace a Worcester Landmark by Solon Kelleher
According to Kathleen Gagne, executive director and co-chair of The Portraits Project at Mechanics Hall. "There's so much to talk about. The subjects themselves, the artists, the portrait art, the social reform movement, the mechanics association, all of those things are just wonderful stories that need to be told".
First Portrait of Black Americans Arrives at Mechanics Hall to be Installed in March by Richard Duckett
The painting of the couple is about 10-and-a-half feet tall and 8 feet wide. It was carried out of a truck in a plastic cover by four men from Clark Fine Arts Surfaces in Cambridge who had gone to the Mechanics Hall rear entrance on Waldo Street. The idea was to take the service elevator up to the Great Hall. But the portrait proved too big for the elevator, so the painting was placed back in the truck, which was driven to the front of Mechanics Hall at 321 Main St. There, the four men were able to get the painting through the front doors and up the stairs. Those watching such as Goldsberry gave the men a round of applause when the portrait came through the doors.
Mechanics Hall portrait project
It is a permanent declaration that Black history is American history.
Mechanics Hall Unveils Portraits of 4 Prominent Black Americans by Rick Cinclair
They are the first portraits of Black Americans to grace the historic hall, which was constructed in 1857.
Mechanics Hall to unveil portraits honoring Black Americans in March By Eric Casey
”This is a historic moment for Mechanics Hall and our vibrantly diverse community...They and their audiences will now share the hall with – and be inspired by – these striking paintings of Black Americans who lived lives of extraordinary courage."
SKETCHES
Video
Honoring Black Lives Through Art: New Portraits in Mechanics Hall Pay Tribute to Worcester's History.
Worcester’s historic Mechanics Hall is installing new portraits to their collection that tell a more complete history of the role that African Americans played in the city. Mechanics Hall Executive Director Kathleen Gagne explains the Portraits Project, and Carol Goldsberry Tucker tells us why the larger-than-life portrait of her ancestors now hanging in the hall fills in a chapter of black life in Worcester.
