Hildreth Meière (, ) (September 3, 1892 — May 2, 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.Catherine Coleman Brawer and Kathleen Murphy Skolnik, The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière: Andrea Monfried Editions, 2014.
Early life Hildreth Meière was born in Flushing, Queens, New York City in 1892. In 1911, after graduating from the Academy of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic girls’ boarding school in Manhattan, Meière spent a year in Florence studying painting with an English artist.Genevieve Parkhurst, “An Artist Who Happens to Be a Woman: The Remarkable Career of Hildreth Meière,” Pictorial Review 27:12 (September 1926). 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wrote, "I fell in love, once and for all, with mural painting and great beautiful walls.”Hildreth Meière, “Dossier,” unpublished article, c. 1946, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
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.Parkhurst.
Career 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.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). 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.Hartley Burr Alexander, “Hildreth Meière’s Work for Nebraska,” Architecture 63:6 (June 1931).
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.”Mary Kimbrough, “She Finds an Education in Her Art,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, October 14, 1955. 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. She was a businesswoman in her approach to commissions, ensuring that she and her work were suitable promoted. Her work ethic was strong and she managed clients expectations and deadlines effectively.
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.Brawer and Skolnik, The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière. She also taught first aid for the Red Cross.Hildreth Meière, “Dossier.”
Meière kept good records and had her work photographed at plan stage and the completed installation.
Professional organizations As Meière herself wrote, “I have always been active in professional organizations, believing that we owe some of our time and energies to them."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. 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.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.
Awards and recognition 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.Aline Kistler, “Hildreth Meière. A San Francisco Woman Wins America’s Highest Painting Award,” The San Franciscan (April 1928).
The U.S. War Department recognized the work she did with the Citizens Committee for the Army and Navy during World War II.War Department Citation, August 12, 1946, Hildreth Meière papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. In 1956, she became the first woman to win the Fine Arts Medal of the American Institute of Architects.“Fine Arts Medal Award to Hildreth Meière,” Construction News (Chicago), May 14, 1956. 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.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.
Legacy The International Hildreth Meière Association was formed to "promote and perpetuate" her legacy and maintains a searchable database of her work.
Selected works 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.
Painted and gilded gesso decorations for the Great Hall of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. 1924 Interiors, including ceramic tile domes, marble mosaic floors, leather doors, and gold-leaf stenciled designs, for the Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1924–32 Glazed ceramic tile decoration for the vaults and apse ceiling at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, 1928 Marble floor mosaics at the Baltimore Trust Building, 1929 Glass mosaics for the apse and narthex and four stained-glass clerestory windows for the nave at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City, 1929–56 Glass mosaics for the arch and ark of the main sanctuary at Temple Emanu-El, New York City, 1929 Consultant on color and scale for the Red Room on the ground floor of 1 Wall Street (originally the Irving Trust Company Building, later the Bank of New York Mellon Building and the space is now a part of Printemps department store), New York City, 1931 Dance, Drama, Song (1932), three metal and enamel roundels for the 50th Street facade of the Radio City Music Hall building at Rockefeller Center, New York City (executed by Oscar Bach) Glass mosaic lobby ceiling and tile map for the lobby wall of the AT&T Long Distance Building, New York City, 1932 Two projects for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago—a large painted mural entitled The Progress of Women through Organization and the terracotta tile floor of a pool for the Communications Court Multiple projects for the 1939 New York World’s Fair Oil-on-canvas mural for the ocean liner SS President Monroe, commissioned by the United States Maritime Commission and the Section of Painting and Sculpture (1940) Inlaid marble altar frontal depicting the Annunciation for the Lady Chapel at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, 1942 Glass mosaics and majolica frieze at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 1945–61 Glass mosaic of the risen Christ for the half-dome of the apse of the Resurrection Chapel at Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., 1951 Map of the Mississippi in gesso and metal-leaf for the Cabin Class Lounge, SS United States; Meière also worked, along with Austin Purves, Jr., on the overall design of the ship interiors, 1952 Three-part marble mosaic mural for the lobby of Prudential Plaza, Newark, New Jersey, 1960
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References
External links Official website, International Hildreth Meière Association. The Great Hall, National Academy of Sciences. MEIERE-HILDRETH | The United States Navy Memorial