Hildreth Meière was one of the most talented, prolific, and versatile American muralists of the first half of the twentieth century. During her forty-year career, which extended from the early 1920s to her death in 1961, she completed approximately one hundred commissions and designed for a wide variety of mediums.
Like other designers of the Art Deco era, Meière often looked to the classical past for inspiration. This lecture will examine her modern interpretation of classical themes in such works as The Pillars of Hercules mural for Prudential Plaza in Newark, New Jersey; the whimsical bronze silhouette of Mercury and the winds for the Logan Square Post Office in Chicago; and the personifications of the Baltimore Harbor, Railyard, Airport, and Industries for the marble floor of the Baltimore Trust Company.
Our presenter for this presentation will be Kathleen Murphy Skolnik, who teaches art and architectural history at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Kathleen leads seminars on architecture and design of the late 19th and early 20th century at the Newberry Library, a private research library also in Chicago. She is the co-author of The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière and a contributor to Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America. From 2008 to 2016 she was the editor of the Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine and currently serves on the Board of the International Hildreth Meière Association and the Advisory Board of the Art Deco Society of New York.
We hope you can join us.
FREE for current ICAA members.
$20 for Non-Members.
Kathleen Murphy Skolnik