Miriam McKinnie (May 22, 1906– October 22, 1987) also known as Miriam McKinnie Hofmeier, was an American artist.

Education

McKinnie was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

. She attended the Minneapolis (MN) School of Fine Art and the

Kansas City Art Institute The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. It has approxi ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. She was a student of

Anthony Angarola Anthony Angarola (4 February 1893–15 August 1929Anthony ...

Mural commissions

Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

through the

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, later called the

Section of Fine Arts The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, of the Treasury Department. The murals were intended to boost the morale of the American people suffering from the effects of

the Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

by depicting uplifting subjects. Murals were commissioned through competitions open to all artists in the United States. Almost 850 artists were commissioned to paint 1371 murals, most of which were installed in post offices, libraries, and other public buildings.University of Central Arkansas.
Arkansas Post Office Murals
". 162 of the artists were women. The murals were funded as a part of the cost of the construction with 1% of the cost set aside for artistic enhancements. McKinnie's mural work includes the oil-on-canvas mural titled ''Harvest'' in the

Marshall, Illinois Marshall is a city in and the county seat of Clark County, Illinois, United States, located approximately west of Terre Haute, Indiana. The population was 3,947 at the 2020 census. History Marshall was officially organized by William B. Archer ...

post office, commissioned by the

Treasury Section of Fine Arts The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, and completed in 1938. McKinnie painted a

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

-commissioned mural in 1940 titled ''The White Fawn'' in the United States post office in the

Forest Park, Illinois Forest Park (formerly Harlem) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, United States. The population was 14,339 at the 2020 census. The Forest Park terminal on the CTA Blue Line is the line's western terminus, located on the ...

. The

Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri ...

public library contains four untitled murals donated by McKinnie in 1958 after a fire had destroyed some of the library's interior. McKinnie was a member of the

National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

and later, under its new name the

National Association of Women Artists The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

. In the 1930s McKinnie was associated with the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Her watercolor rendering of ''The White Fawn'' is in the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

. McKinnie died on October 22, 1987, in

Berryville, Arkansas Berryville ( ) is a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 5,682 at the 2020 census. making it the largest city in Carroll County. Along with Eureka Springs, it is one of the two county seats of Carroll County. His ...

Exhibitions

St Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

Artist Guild, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 :*Midwestern Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, 1932. :*St Louis, Missouri Post Dispatch Exhibit, 1933. :* National Association of Women Painters & Sculptors, 1935, 1937, 1939. :*Biennial,

Corcoran Gallery The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

, Washington, DC, 1947

Awards

:*Prizes, St Louis, Missouri Arts Guild, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 :*Silver medal/lithography, Kansas City (MO) Art Institute, 1932 :*Honorable Mention/lithography,

, 1932. :*Niedringhaus Prize for lithography, 1933 :*Prize, St Louis Missouri Dispatch Exhibit. :*Prizes, National Association of Women Painters & Sculptors,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, 1935, 1937, 1939

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnie, Miriam 1906 births 1987 deaths Painters from Illinois 20th-century American painters American muralists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Artists from Evanston, Illinois Kansas City Art Institute alumni 20th-century American women painters American women muralists