Stained Glass by Mildred Wolfe -- Hazlehurst, MS

MDAH Digital Archives ; Photographer: Hugh W. Shankle

"Mildred Wolfe's stained-glass window, First Baptist-Hazlehurst."196-,  Copiah County, Hazlehurst, Mississippi

Followers of this blog may remember a posting on Karl Wolfe, a Mississippi artist of note who was born in Brookhaven. 

Today's post is a tip of the hat to his wife, Mildred Nungester Wolfe, (Aug. 23, 1912 - Feb. 11, 2009), who spent much of her artistic career in the shadow of her husband. 

Mildred Nungester, the daughter of a pharmacist, was born in Celina, OH, but grew up in Decatur, AL.  She studied at Chicago Art Institute and the Art Students League of New York. During a summer trip to Kelly Fitzpatrick's Dixie Art Colony in 1937, she met her future husband.

She and Karl were married in 1944, and after the end of WWII, they settled in Jackson, MS, where they maintained a studio, which is still in existence today.  To read more, please see this post.   

Mildred painted mostly landscapes in oil or watercolor, but her portraits, including that of close friend Eudora Welty, which is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery, are not to be overlooked.

Both Wolfes worked in ceramics, sculpture and stained glass, and the above photograph is an example of Mildred Wolfe's work in stained glass.  

Sadly, it was not until Karl Wolfe died that Mildred Wolfe began to be recognized for her talent in her own right.

To quote Wikipedia: "After Karl's death in 1984, the art community of Mississippi began appreciateing Mildred for her own art, not for being Karl's wife."

Mildred Wolfe died on February 11, 2009, age 96, at her Jackson home.