In a 1936 Providence Journal exhibition review, the work of college student Mary Howard (1908-2011) fascinated art critic Robert Wheeler. He wrote, “It will be a strange thing if this young artist doesn’t go on a long journey. There is a rough vigor in everything she paints.” With a life spanning 102 years and an artistic career of abundance, Wheeler’s words were something of a prophecy. While Mary Howard experienced a gap in her creative productivity due to the demands of caring for her family, her “rough vigor” would sustain her artistic spirit throughout her life.
\nBorn in 1908, Mary Cupit Howard was raised in a home on Thayer Street. In her youth, Howard developed a passion for art and found ways to finance her education during the Great Depression. After graduating from Hope High School, her skill proved strong enough to land a scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She attended RISD from 1927 to 1933 and gained valuable lessons from her painting professor, John F. Frazier. Following her success at RISD, Howard’s family sold some property, which funded her studies at Yale University. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Yale in 1935.
\nDuring her formative college and early career years, Howard produced acclaimed art and received many awards. Howard drew praise for her moody landscapes, her strongly-composed still lifes, and her exquisite portraits. In a studio on Eddy Street, Howard made prints and paintings. Her painting “Portrait of a Girl” won the prestigious Ives Award at RISD. It was displayed with the work of other RISD students in a young artists exhibition in 1932.
\nIn 1936, Howard was the only woman in the state chosen to work on the RI Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the agency created to fund and oversee public works projects and that provided income during the financially challenging 1930s. In November 1936, an exhibition was held at 30 Benefit Street featuring work by the young artists of the FAP-WPA. Among these artists was Mary Howard, who, in the words of Wheeler, evoked a “tonic sadness” through her atmospheric and memorably dark landscapes. Howard’s other works for the FAP-WPA included small prints of fishermen’s shacks, old houses on Benefit Street, and a large mural for the State House cafeteria depicting a family enjoying a picnic, described as “a delicately colored pastoral scene symbolizing the production and consumption of foodstuffs.” During the WPA years, Howard also painted a portrait of RI Governor Theodore Francis Greene, displayed in the Library at the University of Rhode Island until at least the 1960s.
\nAfter her marriage to Atlanta-born artist Wilmer Jennings, Mary Howard (now Jennings) was busy running a household and participating in social and civic clubs. She had three children, Corrine, Wilmar, and Laurel. Later, Howard put her vigor into teaching; She earned a Master’s degree in Education from Rhode Island College in 1969 and, for 17 years, worked in the Providence public schools as a third grade teacher. After retiring, Jennings began painting again and joined the Providence Art Club, Wickford Art Association, and RI Watercolor Society. With her lifelong talent and artistic spirit, Mary Howard Jennings created atmospheric paintings and lasting public works. She died on February 12, 2011.
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","Federal Art Project and Richard C Morrison. Federal Art in New England, 1933-1937, n.p., 1938. https://archive.org/embed/federalartinnewe00fede
","Papers of Dr. Carl Russell Gross, MSS.2, James P. Adams Library Special Collections, Rhode Island College. https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/crgross_papers/
","Rosskam, Charles A. “Rhode Island Artists Find a New Patron in Uncle Sam.” Providence Journal, 17 May 1936, p. 3.
","United States Federal Census.
","Wheeler, Robert. “Youth, Virility, and Promise in WPA Artists’ Show.” Providence Journal, 1 November 1936, p. 9.
"],"factoids":["Note on Mary Howard Jennings from the Papers of Dr. Carl Russell Gross: 1927-*Mary (Howard) Jennings, RISD 27; BA, Yale Sch of Art, 1935; Portrait and Mural Painter. Art","The Wilmer and Mary Jennings Home is part of the “On the Road to Freedom” tour on the Stages of Freedom website. Visit https://www.stagesoffreedom.org/on-the-rhode-to-freedom"],"files":{"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/50555420ba2e55019a39e07489a09538.jpg":{"id":1763,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Old Houses, Benefit Street","description":"As part of the RI Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Mary Howard produced works such as small prints and a large mural for the RI State House cafeteria. This print is a woodcut on tissue paper. Howard lived on Benefit Street as a young adult.
|Newark Museum, https://gallery.newarkmuseum.org/view/objects/asitem/Objects@2003469/2?t:state:flow=e8cddceb-bed4-4a16-bbe1-c8146b813586
| 1939 | Mary Howard","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/50555420ba2e55019a39e07489a09538.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/90e2b9ae206f32ac8e89e463094b63f3.jpg":{"id":1765,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Storm Over Fisherman's Shacks","description":"Produced for the RI Federal Art Project, this atmospheric print is a seascape depicting an ominous storm forming over a fisherman’s shack. It is a woodcut on buff paper.
| | 1936 | Mary Howard","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/90e2b9ae206f32ac8e89e463094b63f3.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/45451155dac229695d89ddff4a9b6048.jpg":{"id":1766,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Musicians","description":"Mary Howard created this print of a group of musicians. It is a woodcut on tissue paper. Commissioned by the RI Federal Art Project, this piece remains property of the United States Government.
| | 1935 | Mary Howard","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/45451155dac229695d89ddff4a9b6048.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/90d55db3ed7da9b3f888a1be809aed2b.jpg":{"id":1767,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Head Study","description":"Although the prints created by Mary Howard for the FAP-WPA in the 1930s are property of the U.S. General Services Administration, some of the pieces are on loan to art museums. The linocut “Head Study,” which depicts the three-quarter view of a man, is on long-term loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. |https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/94677
| 1937 | Mary Howard","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/90d55db3ed7da9b3f888a1be809aed2b.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/a2a835032b49c05f25b84a4f7b107962.jpg":{"id":1768,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"30 Benefit Street","description":"In November 1936, the RI Federal Art Project mounted an exhibit of works created by WPA artists, including Mary Howard, at 30 Benefit Street. During the 1930s, the building functioned as a popular center for the arts operated by Leisure Time Activities, Inc. | Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library https://provlibdigital.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A9977 | 1958 | Laurence E. Tilley","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/a2a835032b49c05f25b84a4f7b107962.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/e3f38c764f83efaab97d33aa7d2b2646.jpg":{"id":1769,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Excerpt from Manuscript F in the Papers of Dr. Carl Russell Gross","description":"In his lifetime, Dr. Gross compiled descriptions of notable people he met in the community. Research into the life of Mary Howard stems from this short excerpt.
| Papers of Dr. Carl Russell Gross, James P. Adams Library Special Collections, Rhode Island College | 1927 | Dr. Carl Russell Gross","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/e3f38c764f83efaab97d33aa7d2b2646.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/original/ac14602f041dda91f4da0fa29b3fc5d4.m4v":{"id":1764,"mime-type":"video/mp4","title":"Excerpt from Wilmar Jennings Interview","description":"Wilmar Jennings, son of Mary Howard Jennings, recalls memories of his parents and their lives as artists. Jennings describes Mary Howard’s career in education and speaks about her later watercolor paintings. | YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-52NBbanTjw | November 19, 2020 | Arts Committee of All Saints’ Memorial Church"}}}