Hildreth Meière
“You cannot maintain your career in an ivory tower and expect to succeed. You must get out there and work with the others.”
St. Anthony Messenger, April 1944
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Also with Taylor & Fisher, Hildreth designed and painted the main altarpiece at St. Mark’s on the Hill in Pikesville in 1933 (pictured above and to the right). That same year, she completed her only other project in Baltimore, this time with Henry Dagit & Sons. She developed glass mosaics for three high relief altarpieces and the Stations of the Cross in the Church of St. Katharine of Sienna. The only commissions in the area that followed were in 1941 for the Municipal Center (pictured below) and in 1951 for the Washington National Cathedral, both in Washington, DC.
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“Christ and His Mother” Altarpiece, Oil and Gilt on Wood Panel, St. Mark’s on the Hill
1620 Reisterstown Rd, Pikesville, 1933 |
“Health and Welfare” Frieze in Glazed Terracotta, Interior Courtyard of Municipal Center Building
300 Indiana Ave NW, Washington DC, 1941
300 Indiana Ave NW, Washington DC, 1941
Timeline1892 - Born Marie Hildreth Meière on September 3 to Ernest and Marie
Hildreth “Minnie” Meière, a painter, in New York City 1900-11 - Attends Academy of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville, NY 1911 - Spends year with mother and sister studying art in Florence, Italy 1912 - Returns and studies briefly at Art Students League, New York, NY 1913-15 - Moves with family to San Francisco, CA; - Studies at California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco; - Begins artistic career sketching theater productions 1916 - Returns to New York City to work with costume and set designer Livingston Platt - Designs theatrical costumes for production at the Metropolitan Opera 1918-19 - Studies mechanical drawing and surveying at Columbia University; - Joins U.S. Navy; - Trains as a mapmaker; - Serves as an architectural draftsman 1919-23 - Studies mural painting at School of Applied Design for Women with Ernest Peixotto; - Participates in competitions at Beaux-Arts Institute of Design 1921-22 - Studies at Art Institute of Chicago School of Art; - Travels to Annapolis to study colonial interiors for competition entry 1922-24 - Project: Dome and pendentives of Great Hall, National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC (1st major commission from architect Bertram G. Goodhue) 1924-32 - Projects: 8 Interior Commissions, Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln, NE, with architect Bertram G. Goodhue 1928 - Receives Gold Medal in Mural Painting from Architectural League of New York for work on Nebraska State Capitol 1928-56 - Projects: Apse, Narthex & Clerestory Windows, St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York, NY (Architects Bertram G. Goodhue; Mayers, Murray and Philips) 1929 - Project: Main Arch, Temple Emanu-El, New York, NY (Architects John, Butler & Stein) 1929 - Project: Banking Hall Floor, Baltimore Trust Company (10 Light St), Baltimore (Architects Taylor & Fisher, Smith & May) 1930 - Daughter Marie Louise Hildreth Meière born; - The Baltimore Sun praises Hildreth’s artistic skills and floors of Baltimore Trust Company Building in March 2 article: “Baltimore Represented At Architectural Show” 1932 - Project: Exterior Roundels on 50th Street façade, Radio City Hall, New York, NY (Photograph of “Song” Roundel) 1933 - Project: Progress of Women Mural for National Council of Women exhibit, Century of Progress International Exhibition, Chicago, IL 1933 - Projects: Altarpieces for High Altar & Side Chapels at St Katherine of Sienna (now Greater Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church), Baltimore (Architect Henry Dagit & Sons); Altarpiece at St Mark’s on the Hill, Pikesville (Architect Taylor & Fisher) 1937 - Starts 6 terms as First Vice President of the Architectural League of New York 1939 - Projects: 11 exterior commissions at 1939 New York World’s Fair 1941 - Cover story in American Artist magazine features her work in September 1941 - Project: Frieze, East Courtyard of Municipal Center Building, Washington DC (Architect Nathan C. Wyeth) 1942-44 - Serves as Vice President of Citizens Committee for the Army and Navy providing 500 portable altarpieces to military chaplains (75 of her own design) 1945-61 - Projects: 9 commissions at Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO (Architects Barnett, Haynes, & Barnett; Magualo & Quick) 1946-52 - First female member of the New York City Municipal Art Commission 1951 - Project: Half-dome of Apse in Glass Mosaic, Chapel of the Resurrection, Washington National Cathedral, 3101 Wisconson Ave NW, Washington DC (Architect Phil Frohman) 1956 - First woman to receive Fine Arts Medal of the American Institute of Architects 1961 - Passes away on May 2 at age 69 working on the last of 9 commissions for the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO |