Theresa Bernstein

1890 - 2002

Theresa Bernstein was born in Philadelphia and studied at the Pennsylvannia Academy of Art, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and the Art Students League in New York. She came to Gloucester for the first time in 1916 on the advice of a friend. After her marriage to artist William Meyerowitz in 1919, the couple began spending summers on Cape Ann and winters in New York. Most of their summers were spent in East Gloucester, except for a brief period in the early 1920s when Ellen Day Hale loaned the couple a cottage in Folly Cove called Gaviotta.

In a letter dated February 10, 1986, Bernstein writes about her painting New England Ladies (1925):

[This canvas] was painted in Folly Cove ... and it is an elderberry wine party at the home of Gertrude Stanwood, who is sitting in the front with her back to us. On the far left is the aunt from Savannah, in profile, with her cane. Next to her is Ellen Day Hale (talking to Mrs. Stanwood). Next to her is Margaret Hoyt, wife of Professor William Hoyt, first cousin to President Wilson. The center lady is Lilian Westcott Hale, painter and wife of Philip Hale.... Next, facing her is Gabrielle de Veaux Clements.... In the left rear corner is Captain Burnham who caught lobsters. The next lady is Mrs. Frisbee who served meals on Folly Point where the Finnish Colony was located. Then there was Dorothy Grafly who was a writer for the "Christian Science Monitor" and ... the daughter of the sculptor Charles Grafly. At the far right is Nancy Hale, daughter of Lilian Westcott Hale and writer for the "New Yorker" and other publications. Then there is ... Dr. William Hoyt, historian and son of Margaret Hoyt.