I noted with interest the article submitted by Sarah Merrill of Granby Racial Reconciliation (GRR) regarding the personal and political friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune, one of the nation’s most powerful Black political figures through the 1930s and 40s.
Mrs. Roosevelt’s voice was respectfully welcomed on many global issues while President Roosevelt was infirmed with poliomyelitis during his years in office. By demeanor she was a cultured and worldly woman who managed to resonate with peers (both men and women) as well as the minimally educated person without patronizing the recipient of her message.
Sylvia Davis Patricelli, my mother, was honored by Roosevelt’s influence by bridging her internationally recognized talent as a portrait painter in her homeland and her new home as a WWII war bride in Hartford, having married my father in Sydney. Roosevelt had heard about my mother’s accomplishments, which included a significant array of Solomon Island native paintings, while accompanying her father on a gold mining trip to the Solomons a year before the start of the war.
To support Patricelli, Roosevelt wrote in her daily national newspaper column, My Day, of my mother’s achievements including her graduation from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and recognition as the youngest and most talented student. She graduated from the academy at the age of 15.
Roosevelt had a personal relationship with Beatrice Auerbach, owner of G. Fox & Company, and encouraged Auerbach to hold an exhibition in the store. Roosevelt confirmed that if Auerbach did so that she would attend and speak at the event that occurred in 1951. Subsequently, the first lady sat for her almost-life-size portrait, which now hangs in our home in Granby.
The exhibition was sponsored by G. Fox & Co., WTIC and the Wadsworth Atheneum. Auerbach also commissioned my mother to paint her portrait, which was done at the Auerbach Farm in Bloomfield. That portrait hung in Auerbach’s office and when she died the portrait was draped in black velvet and hung in the front window of the store for several weeks. The portrait now resides with the family.
In Patricelli’s memory, in 2017 our family established a non-profit foundation that provides fine art scholarships for secondary education tuition. Scholarships are awarded to high school students pursuing a minor or major in the creative arts. The Sylvia Davis Fine Arts scholarship has been awarded in private and public schools across Connecticut, including Granby Memorial High School. For the past three years the award has been with the CREC Half-day Art Program.
See Sylvia Davis Patricelli’s story, paintings and hear Mrs. Roosevelt’s entire speech at the 1951 exhibition, as well as further foundation information, at sylviadavisartfoundation.org