M.B. Mayfield House Museum
A Celebration of Mississippi Art and Culture
The Artist
Join Us in Celebrating His Inspiring Art
Mayfield grew up in a house like this one, and that is where our story begins. On a summer day in 1949, Mayfield heard his mother call him. When he got to the front porch, a man named Stuart R. Purser introduced himself as the new art professor at the University of Mississippi. Professor Purser gave Mayfield two things that day, a generous supply of art supplies and “His offer for me to come to ‘Ole Miss’ and work as a custodian for his Art Department.” When writing his autobiography, Mayfield said, "As I reflect on that incident, I must say that was the major turning point in my life.”
Mayfield left from Ecru for Oxford on a bus ticket sent to him by Professor Purser and studied art by observing classes from a broom closet classroom at Peabody Hall. His mother grew sick in his third year in Oxford, so he returned to Ecru to care for her. After the death of his beloved mother, Mayfield lost his inspiration to paint. He left Ecru for nearly two decades. After regaining his love of art while working as a custodian at Brooks Memorial Art Gallery in Memphis, TN, he returned to the landscape and his home place to paint again in "Sweet Ecru."
Mr. Mayfield would go on to become a prolific painter of landscapes and portraits, a recognized artist who created beautiful paintings taken from his recollections of growing up in the quaint, small town that held his memories. Mayfield's "memory scenes" are a vibrant chronicle of his community. African Americans in Mayfield's youth had few pathways to pursuing the arts, but M.B. Mayfield's gift opened the door when he met his mentor, and he walked through it, courageously.
Mayfield’s ‘memory scenes’ paintings are a vibrant chronicle of his community
Jeannie Speck-Thompson
The House
M.B. Mayfield's Home in Ecru
Before and After
M.B. Mayfield House
November 2020 and 2023
The Museum Story Until Now
Mayfield eventually died in this house. Ms. Shirley, his niece, received a call from the local authorities that she should go up to Mayfield’s house because something had happened. Before this, Shirley was Mayfield’s primary caretaker, and on this particular morning, she had already gotten Mayfield some food. Shirley says she was not allowed inside the house when she got there, and they informed her that he had passed away. Right after explaining this event in her oral history, Shirley says, “The most fun time was when we when we would, he would draw pictures, and we would look at them and go outside.”
After Mayfield’s death, the house sat and slowly fell into ruin until our curator recalled visiting with the artist at his home and what he shared with her about his art. Through the community partnership formed afterward, and the generosity of Shirley Mayfield Ware and Nowlin Properties, L.L. C., in allowing and funding its restoration, the idea for the home's preservation was realized. Nowlin Properties, L.L.C., donated the home to the M.B. Mayfield Foundation in 2023.
The house received its first visitors in 2023.
This is our story until now.
Where to Find Us
The M.B. Mayfield House Museum is hosting Gwendolyn Pfrenger as a summer intern at the house museum in Ecru. Gwen is a rising senior in art history and museum studies at the University of Mississippi.
See Gwen's blog post for Featured in University Archives.