MARION – Learn about the art of the Gilded Age on Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. with featured presentations at the Marion Art Center on 80 Pleasant Street.

Reese Gilder-Palmer, great-grandson of American artist Helena de Kay and her husband, Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine editor Richard Watson Gilder, will will present an illustrated talk on the influence of Helena de Kay and Richard Gilder, a dynamic power couple who founded an influential art colony in Marion in the late 19th century.

The Gilder family summered in Marion from 1881 to 1893 during the height of their cultural influence in New York City. Members of their circle would go on to become giants in American art, music, literature, theater, sculpture, and architecture. Their presence in this little village would forever change Marion.

Mr. and Mrs. Gilder-Palmer will endow the Sippican Historical Society with several of Helena de Kay Gilder’s artworks, as well as Gilder family memorabilia. Gilder family items will also be available for sale after the presentation. All proceeds of the sale will support the Gilder-Palmer Four Brooks Farm restoration project.

The presentation is free, and the public is warmly welcome.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will feature the artwork of Helena de Kay and her circle of late nineteenth century American artists in their upcoming exhibition, "New York Art Worlds, 1870 -1890," Dec. 12, 2022 through Oct. 29, 2023. More information is available at www.metmuseum.org.