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Mamie Harmon

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Mamie Harmon
A young woman with bobbed blonde hair, wearing a sleeveless white dress with a lace detail in front
Mamie Harmon, from the 1926 yearbook of Wesleyan College
BornOctober 3, 1906
Macon, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJune 19, 1993 (age 92)
Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)Artist, arts editor
RelativesGeorge F. Harmon (brother)

Mamie Harmon (October 3, 1906 – June 19, 1993) was an American artist, educator, and arts editor. She completed and edited The Natural Way to Draw (1941) by her teacher Kimon Nicolaïdes, and wrote, edited, and illustrated other books. Her papers are in the collection of the Archives of American Art.

Early life and education

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Harmon was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of James Alston Harmon and Mamie Feagin Harmon.[1] Her father was a Methodist minister;[2] her older brother George F. Harmon was a collegiate basketball star.[3][4] She attended Lanier High School[5] and Wesleyan College in Macon, where she was president of the dramatic club, a member of the debate team, captain of the basketball team, and manager of the tennis team.[6][7]

Harmon studied art at Lake Junaluska summer school as a teen,[8] and with Kimon Nicolaïdes at the Art Students League of New York and in New Hampshire.[9][10] She also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and earned a master's degree in English at the University of Chicago, with a thesis titled "The Clergyman in Restoration Comedy" (1927).[11]

Career

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Harmon taught school in Tennessee as a young woman. She lived in China from 1928 to 1932,[12] while her father was a missionary there, and taught at a school in Shanghai.[9] After Nicolaïdes' death in 1938, Harmon organized a 1939 memorial exhibition at the GRD Studio in New York, and completed his unfinished manuscript, which became the book The Natural Way to Draw (1941).[13] She was managing editor of reference books at Funk & Wagnalls from 1933 to 1945,[11][12] and edited other art books including Jules Heller's Printmaking Today (1973). She spent eight years based in Rome as advisory editor of The Encyclopedia of World Art, while it was being translated into Italian.[11] She also illustrated books, including Maria Leach's The Soup Stone (1954)[14] and God Had a Dog (1961),[15] and wrote encyclopedia articles on art topics.[12][14][16]

Publications

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  • "The Glory of the Sky" (1926, poem)[17]
  • Kimon Nicolaïdes, The Natural Way to Draw (1941, editor)[18]
  • Maria Leach, The Soup Stone (1954, illustrator)[14]
  • Maria Leach, God Had a Dog: Folklore of the Dog (1961, illustrator)[15]
  • Igor Kipnis, His First Solo Recordings (1962, photographer)[19]
  • The Encyclopedia of World Art (1960s, advisory editor)[11][20]
  • Three Spiritual Classics (1960s, cover designer)[20]
  • Remember Miss Wallace? (1969)[21]
  • Jules Heller, Printmaking Today (1973, editor)

Personal life and legacy

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Harmon's partner was Theresa Callow Brakeley (1912–2011), who was also an editor that specialized in arts topics.[22] They shared an apartment in Greenwich Village and a summer home in Nova Scotia. Harmon died in 1993, at the age of 87, in Red Bank, New Jersey.[23] Her nephew Tom Harmon donated her papers in the Archives of American Art,[16][24] and her artworks to several museums.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Mrs. James A. Harmon". The Macon News. 1953-01-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Rev. J. A. Harmon dies in Macon". The Valdosta Daily Times. 1942-12-30. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Death Claims Sports Figure". The Macon Telegraph. 1954-01-31. p. 7. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Mercer to Induct Harmon into 'Hall'". The Atlanta Constitution. 1973-04-18. p. 61. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "News of Lanier High School". The Macon Telegraph. 1922-03-26. p. 24. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Recital to be Held Tomorrow; Misses Mamie Harmon and Mabel Chastain to Give Program". The Macon Telegraph. 1926-02-01. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Macon Girls in Lead at School; Association of Local Students Makes Unusual Progress". The Macon Telegraph. 1925-03-26. p. 23. Retrieved 2025-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Miss Mamie Harmon's Art Work Is Praised". The Macon Telegraph. 1924-09-01. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "Daughter Visits Dr. J. A. Harmon; Miss Mamie Harmon, Now Working on Book, to be Here for about One Month". The Macon Telegraph. 1936-09-19. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Historic Artists". Art Students League. Archived from the original on 2025-04-29. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  11. ^ a b c d "Distinguished Achievement/Alumnae Award Winners: Mamie Harmon". Wesleyan Alumnae Magazine: 6. June 1974 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ^ a b c "Phi Delta Phi Again Has a Member Speaker". Wesleyan Alumnae Magazine: 5. February 1950 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ Anania, Katie (September 2020). "Quick Studies: A Queer Reading of The Natural Way to Draw". Archives of American Art Journal. 59 (2): 4–23. doi:10.1086/711970. ISSN 0003-9853.
  14. ^ a b c Maria Leach (1954-01-01). The Soup Stone. Internet Archive. Funk & Wagnalls Co.
  15. ^ a b Leach, Maria (1961). God Had a Dog: Folklore of the Dog. Rutgers University Press.
  16. ^ a b "Mamie Harmon papers relating to Kimon Nicolaides, 1935-1985". Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  17. ^ Harmon, Mamie (August 13, 1926). "The Glory of the Sky". Christian Advocate. 87 (33): 1014.
  18. ^ Nicolaïdes, Kimon (1969). The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-395-53007-8.
  19. ^ Igor Kipnis (1999), Igor Kipnis: His First Solo Recordings (1962), Internet Archive, VAI Audio, retrieved 2025-06-02
  20. ^ a b "Mamie Works in Rome". Wesleyan Alumnae Magazine: 12. February 1964 – via Internet Archive.
  21. ^ Harmon, Mamie (February 1969). "Remember Miss Wallace?". Wesleyan Alumnae Magazine: 2 – via Internet Archive.
  22. ^ "Theresa Callow Brakeley". Hartford Courant. 2011-01-30. pp. B03. Retrieved 2025-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ a b Rowe, Jeri (2006-05-14). "Forgotten chapter of American art discovered". The Daily Dispatch. pp. 21, 26. Archived from the original on 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Recent Acquisitions". Archives of American Art Journal. 44 (1/2): 56–64. 2004. ISSN 0003-9853.
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