Mildred Nungester Wolfe (b. 1912) is among Mississippi's most prominent artists. Her portrait of Eudora Welty hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and her paintings and sculptures are included in the collections of the Mississippi Museum of Art, Millsaps College, Montgomery Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress. From the wrought-iron gates of Methodist Children's Home, to the terra cotta statue of St. Anthony at St. Dominic's Hospital (both in Jackson, Mississippi), to the mosaic fountain plaque in First Methodist Church in Richton, Wolfe's art has been enjoyed by Mississippians, most without knowing it.
Over seven decades, Wolfe has worked in oils, watercolors, ceramics, prints, and stained glass. Her style blends impressionism with postimpressionism, and her technique is influenced by her interest in the effects of light. As she writes, "I get excited about everyday accidents of atmosphere and light. Every painting is an attempt to remember and make a permanent record of a moment of intense visual perception: the delicate arabesque of weeds silhouetted against the deep russet of sedge, a sharp blue sky, the unbelievable grace of birds, etched on my memory."
Mildred Nungester Wolfe is a retrospective of her work featuring over forty color reproductions of her art, an introduction by author Ellen Douglas, and a chronology of Wolfe's life. In the book, Wolfe candidly reflects on her childhood, training at the Art Institute of Chicago, early career, her collaborations with her artist husband Karl Wolfe, her career as a teacher and mentor, and her techniques. This book is a long-overdue tribute to a master creator.
Elizabeth Wolfe, Mildred Nungester Wolfe's daughter, is an artist based in Jackson, Mississippi. She runs Wolfe Studio.
