Soon after her Byzantine-style half-dome mosaic was completed in the apse of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church (fondly known as St. Bart’s), American artist Hildreth Meière (1892–1961) was commissioned to design a series of gilded glass mosaic domes and pendentives in the church’s narthex. For this spectacular cycle representing the six days of creation, she was given the freedom to work in the more modern Art Deco style for which she is best known. The church seamlessly integrates Byzantine Revival and Art Deco design details like Meière’s splendid mosaics into a structure that evokes Romanesque churches and a polychrome dome that pulls on Hispanic traditions.

Submitted by Charlotte Healy, Museum Research Consortium Fellow, Department of Painting and Sculpture