Portraits spawn book – New American Woman

Local artist Constance Del Vecchio Maltese recently released her new book, New American Woman, featuring portraits from her exhibit “American Women of Distinction.”
The series features 10 portraits of women who “come from every field imaginable with different backgrounds and fields of expertise,” said Del Vecchio Maltese.
As for her new book, for which she did a book signing recently, Del Vecchio Maltese said, “I’m so delighted that it was so well received.”
Del Vecchio Maltese’s first collection was a series on the Age of Discovery, which featured portraits of explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce De Leon and Hernando Cortes. The collection was on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for two years, with Del Vecchio Maltese giving lectures to visiting students.
Constance Del Vecchio Maltese started to paint portraits of women, and was inspired to do her next series of paintings in 1992 based on the idea of the new American woman, which eventually gave rise to her exhibit “American Women of Distinction.”
The wife of former New York State Senator Serphin Maltese, Del Vecchio Maltese got her start as a commercial artist at J. Walter Thompson, an advertising agency. In those times, she said, women were oftentimes limited in the workplace.
She recalled a time she signed her work C. Maltese so people would not know a woman was the artist. “It just goes to show how far things have come,” said Del Vecchio Maltese.
This change in attitude was another contributing factor in her decision to paint women in a variety of fields of expertise.
“It is really worth noting that women are there in every area, but have been downplayed,” said Del Vecchio Maltese.
The women featured in the portraits are Dr. Anne Paolucci, Whitestone, award winning poet, playwright and author; Dr. Ellen Shulman Baker, astronaut and daughter of former borough president Claire Shulman; former Senator Olga Mendez; former middle distance runner Maria Palminteri; Florence “Sally” Master, grandmother; Joyce Lim, banker; R.N. Yvonne Plummer; Victoria and Alexandria Vattimo, mother and daughter; Katarzyna Lewczuk, who served in the Army Civil Affairs Unit and Victoria Schneps-Yunis, The Queens Courier founder and publisher.