Mary Lightfoot

Mary L. Lightfoot (1889–1970) was an American painter and printmaker.

Born in Ravenna, Texas, Lightfoot received a baccalaureate from the College of Industrial Arts in Denton. After studies at the North Texas State Teachers College, she received a master of arts degree from Columbia University. Lightfoot taught in the public school system of Dallas until her retirement. She summered in Europe and in Taos, New Mexico during her career. Late in life she moved to Paris, Texas, remaining there for fifteen years until her death. She was buried in Paris; her death certificate gives her year of birth as 1888.[1]

During her career Lightfoot belonged to the Dallas Print Society, of which group she served as president in 1943.[2] In 1939 she was one of eight women who founded the Printmakers Guild, later called Texas Printmakers, to challenge the male-dominated Lone Star Printmakers; the others were Lucile Land Lacy, Stella LaMond, Bertha Landers, Verda Ligon, Blanche McVeigh, Coreen May Spellman, and Lura Ann Taylor.[3] She exhibited widely in Texas during her career.[1] One of her prints, the lithograph Savannah of c. 1943, is owned by the National Gallery of Art,[4] part of the donation made to the museum by Reba and Dave Williams of the Print Research Foundation in 2009.[5] Other work may be found in the collection of the Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum.[2]