Early Life, Family and Training
Mary Earley was born in 1900 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her early years involved a move from St. Louis to Chicago, where she lived with her family before eventually settling in New York City. It was in New York that her formal training took shape at the Art Students League. There, she studied under the guidance of Kenneth Hayes Miller, Kimon Nicolaïdes, and William C. Palmer.
Her personal life became established in 1925 when she married Ernest Howell Earley on October 3. The couple eventually settled in New York City, and they had a son, Robert B. Earley. Her path through the art world was shaped by these early years of study and the steady rhythms of her life in New York.
Patrons, Workshop and Commissions
The work of Mary Earley found a steady place within the public spaces of New York during the New Deal era. Her mural, Down-Rent War, Around 1845, was commissioned through the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA). This piece was selected as one of the winners in the 48-State Competition for Post Office murals. It was eventually installed in the Delhi, New York post office.
Her relationship with the TSFA continued into the following year. In 1941, she received a commission for Dance of the Hop Pickers, which was installed in the Middleburgh, New York post office. These projects placed her paintings in the daily path of many people, moving her art from private study into the functional life of the community.
Beyond these public commissions, Earley was active in the local art community in Woodstock. In 1940, she joined the Executive Committee of the Woodstock Artists Association. This involvement suggests a life deeply rooted in the shared practices and organizational structures of the regional art scene.
Key Works and Style
Her work often took on a conventional realistic style. In 1940, she completed the mural Down-Rent War, Around 1845, an oil and tempera piece installed in the Delhi, New York post office. This work depicts a historical moment from Andes, New York, where farmers stood against sheriffs attempting to seize animals for unpaid rent. The scene captures a remnant of the old agrarian feudal structure. A study for this mural is held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The scale of her output varied from large-scale public murals to smaller, intimate panels. In 1941, she painted Dance of the Hop Pickers, which was installed in the Middleburgh, New York post office. On a much smaller scale, her painting Undeliverable was executed as a 6 x 9 inch oil on a masonite panel.
