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In 1913, Charles Harold Davis, his wife Frances Darby Davis, Reverend Earnshaw, Miss E.T. Mallory, Miss Lorinda Dudley, and Dr. and Mrs. G.S.B. Leonard founded what was then known as the Mystic Art Association (MAA), the precursor to Mystic Museum of Art, giving a formal name to what had previously been a casual grouping of artists within the same small corner of southeastern Connecticut. The first official meeting of the Association took place on April 23, 1914, at Dr. Leonard’s request and in his office. The minutes of this meeting note the original seven members voted artist George Albert Thompson into the membership, and elected him Secretary. Thompson and Charles Davis were tasked with working with local artists to coordinate the first annual exhibition of the young MAA (as the current building was not constructed until 1931, the first several of such exhibitions were held at the Broadway School, on the opposite bank of the Mystic River). It being 1914, “the ladies of the Committee were asked to make arrangements for serving afternoon te[sic].”(*)

Over 100 years later, this small corner of the world is still home to talented artists. In 2021, the Members and Elected Artists Exhibition is accompanied by a corresponding exhibition of the Museum’s permanent collection of past MMoA Elected Artist and Artist Members, held to the same submission requirements as their contemporary compatriots.

(*) MAA minutes taken by Reverend Earnshaw, April 23, 1914.

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Please click on any of the following works of art to enlarge the image.