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Hildreth Meière

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Hildreth Meière (/mɛaɪɛr/, me-AIR) (1892–1961) was an American muralist active in the first half of the twentieth century who is especially known for her Art Deco designs. During her 40-year career she completed approximately 100 commissions. She designed murals for office buildings, churches, government centers, theaters, restaurants, cocktail lounges, ocean liners, and world’s fair pavilions, and she worked in a wide variety of mediums, including paint, ceramic tile, glass and marble mosaic, terracotta, wood, metal, and stained glass.  Among her extensive body of work are the iconographic interiors at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, the dynamic roundels of Dance, Drama, and Song at Radio City Music Hall, the apse and narthex mosaics and stained-glass windows at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan), and the decoration of the Great Hall at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.[1]

Hildreth Meière
BornSeptember 3, 1892
New York, New York
DiedMay 2, 1961
NationalityAmerican
Known forMuralist, Painting, Architectural Design, Mosaic
MovementArt Deco

Early life

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Hildreth Meière was born in New York City in 1892. After graduating from the Academy of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic girls’ boarding school in Manhattan, Meière spent a year in Florence studying painting with an English artist.[2] The Renaissance frescoes that she saw in Italy had a great impact on the direction her career would take.  As she later wrote, "I fell in love, once and for all, with mural painting and great beautiful walls.”[3]

Meière furthered her studies at the Art Students League of New York, the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (now the San Francisco Art Institute), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the School of Applied Design for Women in New York where she participated in design competitions administered by the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. During World War I, Meière served her country as a draftsman in the U.S. Navy.[4]

Career

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Meière began her career designing costumes and sets for the theater.  In 1921 she was introduced to the architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue who gave Meière her first major mural commission, the decoration of the Great Hall at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.[5] Goodhue also selected Meière to design the interiors of the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Meière’s largest and one of her most important commissions.  Over an eight-year period, she designed decorations for the Capitol vestibule, foyer, rotunda, and senate and house chambers.[6]

Meière went on to design murals for buildings throughout the country, although some of her best work can be found in Manhattan.  She became especially well known for integrating murals within architectural settings.  As she once stated, a good mural “cannot be taken away without hurting the design of the building.”[7]  Although Meière is most closely associated with the Art Deco movement, she was capable of designing in a variety of styles depending on the needs and wishes of her clients.

During World War II, Meière organized a group of artists to paint portable three-panel altarpieces, or triptychs, that The Citizens Committee for the Army and Navy distributed to American military camps, airfields, and ships throughout the world.  More than 500 triptychs were produced and Meière herself painted more than 70.[8]  She also taught first aid for the Red Cross.[9]

Professional organizations

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As Meière herself wrote, “I have always been active in professional organizations, believing that we owe some of our time and energies to them."[10] She was the first woman ever appointed to the New York City Art Commission and she was a founder of the Liturgical Arts Society and served as the organization's first president. She served four terms as President of the National Society of Mural Painters; six terms as First Vice President of the Architectural League of New York; Director of the Municipal Arts Society; Director of the Department of Mural Decoration at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design; member of the Architectural Guild of America; and a board member of the Art Students League, the Municipal Arts Society, the School Art League, and the Advisory Committee of the Cooper Union Art School, all in New York.[11]

Awards and recognition

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Meière’s first major award came in recognition of one of her early projects. In 1928, a full six years before the Architectural League of New York admitted female members, the organization awarded Meière a gold medal in Mural Decoration for her work at the Nebraska State Capitol.[12]

The U.S. War Department recognized the work she did with the Citizens Committee for the Army and Navy during World War II.[13] In 1956, she became the first woman to win the Fine Arts Medal of the American Institute of Architects.[14] Manhattanville College, Meière's alma mater, presented her with an honorary doctorate in 1953, and in 1959 the school presented here with a distinguished service award.[15]

Selected works

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For a complete list of Hildreth Meière’s work see The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière, Catherine Coleman Brawer and Kathleen Murphy Skolnik. New York City: Andrea Monfried Editions, 2014.

Books

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  • Brawer, Catherine Coleman (2009). Walls speak : the narrative art of Hildreth Meière. St. Bonaventure, N.Y. ISBN 978-1-935314-00-4. OCLC 435813160.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Brawer, Catherine Coleman; Skolnik, Kathleen Murphy; Wilson, Richard Guy (2014). The Art Deco murals of Hildreth Meière. New York. ISBN 978-0-9910263-0-2. OCLC 864090420.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Images

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  •  
    Nebraska State Capitol floor mosaic
  •  
    Song, Radio City Music Hall roundel
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    Three roundels in situ
  •  
    Africa Mosaic Detail AT&T Long Distance Building Lobby

References

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  1. ^ Catherine Coleman Brawer and Kathleen Murphy Skolnik, The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière: Andrea Monfried Editions, 2014.
  2. ^ Genevieve Parkhurst, “An Artist Who Happens to Be a Woman: The Remarkable Career of Hildreth Meière,” Pictorial Review 27:12 (September 1926).
  3. ^ Hildreth Meière, “Dossier,” unpublished article, c. 1946, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  4. ^ Parkhurst.
  5. ^ Hildreth Meière, “Distinguished Artist Comes Home for Visit: Miss Hildreth Meière Tells of the Interesting Work in which She Is Engaged,” Women’s City Club Magazine (San Francisco) 1:2 (March 1927).
  6. ^ Hartley Burr Alexander, “Hildreth Meière’s Work for Nebraska,” Architecture 63:6 (June 1931).
  7. ^ Mary Kimbrough, “She Finds an Education in Her Art,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, October 14, 1955.
  8. ^ Brawer and Skolnik, The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière.
  9. ^ Hildreth Meière, “Dossier.”
  10. ^ Hildreth Meière, “Hildreth Meière: Her Life and Times (Not Hard),” unpublished article, c. 1955, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  11. ^ 11a. Brawer and Skolnik, “The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière.” 11b. Hildreth Meière, “Murals . . Large and Small,” Women’s City Club Magazine (San Francisco) 13:8 (September 1939): 11, 30. 11c. Hildreth Meière, “Hildreth Meière, Mural Painter,” unpublished article, c. 1950, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  12. ^ Aline Kistler, “Hildreth Meière. A San Francisco Woman Wins America’s Highest Painting Award,” The San Franciscan (April 1928).
  13. ^ War Department Citation, August 12, 1946, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  14. ^ “Fine Arts Medal Award to Hildreth Meière,” Construction News (Chicago), May 14, 1956.
  15. ^ 15a. “84 Girls Graduated at Manhattanville,” The New York Times, June 9, 1953. 15b. Distinguished Service Award, Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart conferred upon Hildreth Meière, May 9, 1959, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  16. ^ "Ocean Liners: S.S. President Monroe". International Hildreth Meière Association Inc. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
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