Mary Meigs (April 27, 1917 – November 15, 2002) was an American-born painter and writer.

Early life

Meigs was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, the daughter of Edward Browning Meigs and Margaret Wister Meigs, and grew up in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Her great-great-grandfather was the

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgic ...

Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs, and her great-granduncle was Major General Montgomery C. Meigs,

Quartermaster General of the United States Army The Quartermaster General of the United States Army is a general officer who is responsible for the Quartermaster Corps, the Quartermaster branch of the U.S. Army. The Quartermaster General does not command Quartermaster units, but is primarily ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. She studied at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

, graduating in 1939, and subsequently taught English literature and

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at that school. She served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

WAVES Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. *Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music *Waves (band) ...

corps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. She subsequently studied art in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and had her first exhibition of paintings in 1950.

Relationships

Openly lesbian, Meigs met author Barbara Deming in 1954. Deming and Meigs became a couple and moved to

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer. A t ...

, where they joined a

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

artistic circle that included abstract painter

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

, critic

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...

, and writer Mary McCarthy. In 1963, Wilson introduced Meigs to

Marie-Claire Blais Marie-Claire Blais (5 October 1939 – 30 November 2021) was a Canadian writer, novelist, poet, and playwright from the province of Québec. In a career spanning seventy years, she wrote novels, plays, collections of poetry and fiction, newsp ...

, a writer from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

who became romantically involved with Meigs and Deming. The three women lived together for six years. Meigs and Deming drifted apart, and in 1972 Meigs and Blais moved to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. The couple subsequently returned to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1976, where Meigs spent the remainder of her life.

Writings and later life

In the 1970s, Meigs turned to writing, publishing books such as ''Lily Briscoe: A Self-Portrait'' (1981), ''The Medusa Head'' (1983) and ''The Box Closet'' (1987). In addition to her writing, she became a prominent spokesperson in Canada for lesbian, feminist, and seniors' issues. She died in Montreal in 2002, following a series of strokes. Meigs was instrumental in helping administer and support The Money for Women Fund, founded by Barbara Deming to support the work of feminist artists. After Deming's death in 1984, the organization was renamed as the

Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Barbara Deming (July 23, 1917 – August 2, 1984) was an American feminist and advocate of nonviolent social change. Personal life Barbara Deming was born in New York City. She attended a ''Friends'' ( Quaker) school up through her high s ...

. Today, the foundation is the "oldest ongoing feminist granting agency" which "gives encouragement and grants to individual feminists in the arts (writers, and visual artists)."

Depictions

Mary McCarthy's 1955 novel '' A Charmed Life'' depicts Meigs as "Dolly Lamb", a tiresome artist whose paintings were "cramped with preciosity and mannerism". In 1990, Meigs appeared in the Canadian docudrama film '' The Company of Strangers''. She published a book about her experiences making the film, ''In the Company of Strangers'', in 1991.

References

External links

Materials about Mary Meigs in the Mary Meigs papers
held b
Bryn Mawr College Special Collections
* Archives of Mary Meig
(Fonds Mary Meigs, R11779)
are held at Library and Archives Canada. The fonds relates the relationship between Mary Meigs and avec Marie-Claire Blais. * Archives of Mary Meig
Fonds Mary Meigs (MSS418)
are also held at

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec ( 'National Library and Archives of Quebec') or BAnQ is a Quebec government agency which manages the province's legal deposit system, national archives, and national library. Located at the G ...

. The fonds contains records related to the translation in French of Mary Meigs' works by Michelle Thériault. * Some letters of Mary Meigs are held in th
Fonds Marie-Claire Blais (R1710)
at Library and Archives Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Meigs, Mary 1917 births 2002 deaths American expatriate writers in Canada Bryn Mawr College alumni American expatriates in France Canadian feminist writers Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian lesbian writers Feminist artists Lesbian artists American lesbian writers Artists from Philadelphia American LGBT artists American feminist writers Writers from Philadelphia LGBT people from Pennsylvania WAVES personnel United States Navy sailors 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century LGBT people Anglophone Quebec people People from Westmount, Quebec Canadian LGBT artists