Mary Fraser Wesselhoeft

Mary Fraser Wesselhoeft (February 15, 1873 – March 23, 1971) was an American graphic artist, watercolorist, and stained-glass artist.

Life Mary Wesselhoeft was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

She graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, studying under Denman Ross and Charles Herbert Woodbury in Boston. Wesselhoeft also later studied under Hugo von Habermann in Munich.

Wesselhoeft worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; and Santa Barbara, California. By 1922, she had moved to New York City, where she set up a studio on Sixth Avenue and Eleventh Street. Her work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Media/Style

Wesselhoeft experimented with a variety of artistic medias, including: oils, watercolor, stained glass design, and crafting. As an American artist of the west, she is noted for her landscapes of Santa Barbara and of New Mexico, and portraits of Native Americans. Wesselhoeft's stained-glass artwork was praised for its notoriety by the New York Times:"Something quite new in glass is being done by a young woman, Miss Mary Fraser Wesselhoeft... she is the first person as far as known who has attempted to put the so-called independent art into glass... Miss Wesselhoeft believes that the simplicity of line and strong contrast of color in the work of the modern artists lends themselves to reproduction in glass."

Notable works Stained glass window in the nave of the Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri,

"Portrait of Mrs. Perez Morton."

Memberships Wesselhoft was a member of various notable art societies: The Copley Society of Art, the oldest non-profit art association in the United States, founded in 1879. The California Water Color Society (later known as the California National Watercolor Society (1967) and the National Watercolor Society (1975)). The Salons of America. The Society of Independent Artists.