Miriam Ibling Explained
Miriam Ibling (February 17, 1895 – November 9, 1985) was an American muralist who worked on art projects for the New Deal's Section of Painting and Sculpture creating public art in Minnesota. Her lithograph Sheep Resting is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Early life
Anne Miriam Christine Iblings was born on February 17, 1895, in Parkersburg, Butler County, Iowa to Anna (née Paul) and Christopher Iblings. After graduating from Sioux Falls Baptist College, Ibling attended the Minneapolis School of Art, studying three years under Cameron Booth. She then studied for a year at the University of Minnesota before founding with other students, the Art League of Minneapolis.
Career
From 1935, Ibling was painting murals in and around Minneapolis for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), in addition to working as an art teacher, graphic designer and painter. She created such works as a 1935 lithograph, Sheep Resting, which is currently in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; an outdoor scene from 1936 which was featured on a wall in the basement of the Central High School; and a mural painted in fresco-secco, Youth and the Modern World in the Stillwater High School. The work, in the school's auditorium, symbolizes both community growth and the advances made in arts and sciences. In the Lymanhurst Hospital playroom she created a mural called Alice in Wonderland in 1937. In 1938, she painted a mural, Mother Goose in the historic school building, now known as Merrill Hall, at the Minnesota State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children.
Ibling taught classes at the State Reformatory for Women in the 1940s, and an exhibition of their work was shown in March and April, 1940. Her 1941 design, Orchestra, Attending the Opera, and Country Band Concert for Galtier Elementary School, in St. Paul, combined three studies illustrating American music. These were done as silk screens and applied to the wall after completion. The draft sketches for the stylized rhythmic figures for the three sections, "Orchestra", "Attending the Opera" and "Country Band Concert" are currently held in the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society. In 1943, Ibling created murals with Charles Morgan for the Minneapolis Service Men's Center, which was the year that the federal artist's program ended.
After her WPA period, Ibling taught until 1946 at Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Connecticut, before relocating to California in the early 1950s.
Death and legacy
Ibling died on November 9, 1985, in Monterey, Monterey County, California.
References
Bibliography
- Book: Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. 2009. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. New York, New York. 978-1-4027-5422-7.
- Book: Crump, Robert. Minnesota Prints and Printmakers, 1900-1945. 2009. Minnesota Historical Society. St. Paul, Minnesota. 978-0-87351-635-8.
- Book: Federal Writers' Project. The WPA Guide to Minnesota: The North Star State. 2013. Trinity University Press. San Antonio, Texas. 978-1-59534-221-8.
- Book: Gustafson, Scott (illustrator). Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose. 2014. The Greenwich Workshop Press. Seymour, Connecticut. 978-0-86713-169-7.
- Book: Johnson, Nancy A.. Accomplishments: Minnesota Art Projects in the Depression Years: Essay and Catalog. 1976. Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota. Duluth, Minnesota.
- BA . McCarney . Katie . Appendix IV: Minnesota's WPA Murals—Annotated List . 3 March 2017 . . March 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141107183434/http://www.csbsju.edu/Documents/libraries/Mccarney_Bib.pdf . 7 November 2014 . St. Joseph, Minnesota . dead .
- O'Sullivan . Thomas . A Job and a Movement: The WPA Federal Art Project in Minnesota . Minnesota History Magazine . Spring 1993 . 53 . 5 . 184–195 . 3 March 2017 . Minnesota Historical Society . https://web.archive.org/web/20160121193622/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/53/v53i05p184-195.pdf . 21 January 2016 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .
- . 75 Years Ago: From the Shakopee Argus-Tribune . Remember when . March 2015 . 1 . 3 . 2–3 . 3 March 2017 . Shakopee Heritage Society . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303222842/http://www.shakopeeheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/remember-when-2015-03.pdf . 3 March 2017 . Shakopee, Minnesota . dead .
- Book: . . American Paintings and Sculpture in the University Art Museum collection. 1986. University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 978-0-938-71300-5.
- Web site: . Attending the Opera . 2016 . Minnesota State Historical Society . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303194152/http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10607626&return=count%3D25&q=ibling&tab=research_items . 3 March 2017 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .
- Web site: . Clement Haupers and artist Miriam Ibling viewing Ibling's mural in basement of Central High School, Fourth Avenue South and Thirty Fourth, Minneapolis . 2016 . Minnesota State Historical Society . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303214518/http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/largerimage.php?irn=10198570&catirn=10825497&return=count%3D25&q=ibling&startindex=26&tab=research_items . 3 March 2017 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .
- Web site: . Country Band Concert . 2016 . Minnesota State Historical Society . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303194526/http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10607627&return=count%3D25&q=ibling&tab=research_items . 3 March 2017 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .
- News: . . Good Direction. 4 March 2017. The Oakland Tribune. December 10, 1951. Oakland, California. Newspaperarchive.com.
- Web site: . Ibling, Miriam . 2017 . National Gallery of Art . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303201438/http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/artist-info.34239.html . 3 March 2017 . Washington, D.C. . dead .
- Web site: . . Iowa, Delayed Birth Records, 1850-1939. FamilySearch. State Historical Society of Iowa. 2 March 2017. Des Moines, Iowa. July 14, 1943. certificate #158637.
- Web site: . Minnesota State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children . . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160411044235/http://www.mnhs.org/shpo/nrhp/docs_pdfs/0002_mnspsdc.pdf . 11 April 2016 . St. Paul, Minnesota . May 2012 . OMB #1024-0018 . dead .
- Web site: . . Miriam Ibling. FamilySearch. Department of Public Health Services. March 3, 2017. Sacramento, California. November 9, 1985.
- Web site: . Miriam Ibling-Art Teacher . May 2007 . Cherry Lawn School . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080725131437/http://www.cherrylawnschool.org/pom/photomonth200705.html . 25 July 2008 . Darien, Connecticut . dead .
- Web site: . Miriam Ibling at work on "Alice in Wonderland" mural, Lymanhurst Hospital, Minneapolis . 2016 . Minnesota State Historical Society . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303212728/http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10725767&return=q%3Dalice%20in%20wonderland . 3 March 2017 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .
- Web site: . "Mother Goose" mural by Miriam Ibling at Lymanhurst Hospital, Minneapolis . 2016 . Minnesota State Historical Society . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303212321/http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10726345&return=count%3D25 . 3 March 2017 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .
- Web site: . Orchestra . 2016 . Minnesota State Historical Society . 3 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170303200506/http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10598613&return=count%3D25&q=ibling&startindex=26&tab=research_items . 3 March 2017 . St. Paul, Minnesota . dead .