Blickensderfer, William Jacob Davenport, Adelaide Hutchings Davenport, Harriet Grant Chesebrough Dewing, Clark Leonard Dewing, Hiram Duffy, Edward Gildemeister, Clara Parsons Hanrahan, John T. Hoit, Edward B. Hoyt, Joseph Blachley Jones, Cortland Mead Lathrop, The Reverend Edward Lockwood, Judge Charles Davenport Machlett, Raymond R. Palmer, Delos Peters, The Reverend Cyril S. Quintard, Elizabeth Quintard, Mary “Polly” Selleck, Charlotte Gregory Selleck, George Selleck, Harriet Banks Selleck, James Weed Selleck, Captain William Studwell, Theodore Towne, Frederick Tallmadge Waterbury, Captain Marcus Wilensky, Julius Morris Introduction

The Stamford Historical Society Presents

Best Face Forward
Portraits from the Society's Collection
April through September 2009

Clara Parsons Gildemeister (1904–1979)

Oil on canvas Rayma Spaulding (1912–2002) G468-13 Bequest of Fred and Clara Gildemeister Estate

Clara Gildemeister was a native of Stamford, graduated from Stamford High School and took evening courses in journalism at Columbia University. In 1941 she joined the editorial staff of the Stamford Advocate and in 1943 was made society editor, a post she kept for 27 years. She also served as local correspondent and wrote feature stories for the New York Herald Tribune.

Rayma Spaulding was an artist and art educator. She was born in Skive, Denmark, and became a U.S. citizen in 1950. Her works have been exhibited at the National Arts Club and the Salmagundi Club, both in New York City, as well as the Smithsonian in Washington, D. C.

She lived in Springdale and was active in the Stamford Art Association and worked at the Ferguson Library for some time. She served as president of the Hudson Valley Art Association which was founded in the 1920s by a small group of artists to protect the rights of realistic painters. They rarely shared exhibitions with non-representational artists. As Mrs. Spaulding once said, “We have nothing against modern artists. It just seems their work is more suitable to fabrics than to fine art.”

Image © Stamford Historical Society