Nina Barr Wheeler (September 3, 1909 – May 1, 1978) was an American artist. She worked with

Hildreth Meiere Hildreth may refer to: Places * Hildreth, California *Hildreth, Nebraska Hildreth is a village in Franklin County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 378 at the 2010 census. History Hildreth was founded in 1886 when the railroad was ...

on many of her murals, and also was a painter of Catholic religious art. She studied painting at the Art Students League of New York, and the American School in Fontainebleau, France. She painted two murals for the 1940 World's Fair in New York, and was a member of the Architectural League of New York and the National Society of Mural Painters. She designed stained glass windows for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC and murals for the interior of The Tavern on the Green restaurant in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. She was most active during the Depression and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and designed many religious triptychs, which were used as portable altars for the armed forces. One of her works can be found 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 ...

. In the 1950s and 60s, she taught in the Art Department at

Manhattanville College Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Hea ...

under her married name of Nina Blake. She was married to Hugh Hastings Blake (1903-1970). Moving from Manhattan, she purchased a building site in Newtown, CT in the late 1940s, where she built her own house on of land, which she named "Topside," and designed maps for the city of Newtown, and was active in social and political affairs in the community. She died in May, 1978. Her nephew is the writer and filmmaker Wheeler Winston Dixon.

References

20th-century American painters American muralists American stained glass artists and manufacturers 1909 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American women artists Women muralists American women painters {{US-artist-stub