Café Fortune Teller
Date1933
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 33 5/8 × 28 7/8 inches (85.4 × 73.3 cm)
Framed: 35 × 30 1/8 × 1 inches (88.9 × 76.5 × 2.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of friends of Mary Hoover Aiken.
Object number1975.3
Copyright© Joseph Killorin.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextBorn Mary Augusta Hoover in western New York and raised in Washington, D.C., Mary Hoover Aiken showed early artistic promise and earned the opportunity to study at the Corcoran School of Art and under such notable artists as Charles Webster Hawthorne and George Luks. Although the style of Café Fortune Teller evokes American scene painting, the work was completed on the island of Ibiza just prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This self-portrait shows the artist reading her own fortune amidst the bustle of a café.
In 1936, Mary Hoover met the Savannah-born poet Conrad Aiken, whom she married in 1937. Her later works included portraits of famed author T.S. Eliot and British painter Edward Burra, and she also had solo exhibitions at the Telfair in 1964 and 1975.
