New Portrait Honors JWU Founders Gertrude Johnson and Mary Wales
By Mason Hemsley
Visitors to The Alcove, a feminist space located in downtown Providence, are now greeted by a new portrait celebrating two women whose vision helped shape higher education in Providence: Johnson & Wales University founders Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales.
Painted by Rhode Island artist Victor Aguirre Williams, the large-scale, oil-on-canvas portrait is the first known portrait to depict the founders of Johnson & Wales University in full body composition. With only a handful of historic photos depicting them separately, Williams set out to imagine the pair side by side, honoring their partnership and the legacy that they built together.
“I wanted to give them the ability to be seen in full,” Williams said. “There are no pictures or paintings of them together, and they spent so much time working together to found and nurture Johnson & Wales University that they deserve to have that.”
