Virginia True [1900-1989]
American
Terrace, 1946
Oil on canvas
26 x 32 inches
Signed and dated at lower left : ‘V TRUE ’46’.

Marking type: Paper typed exhibition label.
Location: Top middle stretcher verso.
Text: ‘TITLE: TERRACE / MEDIUM: OIL / PRICE: $300. / ARTIST: VIRGINIA TRUE / STUDIO: 521 Wyckof Road / Ithica, New York’.

Virginia True [1900-1989]

Virginia True, painter and teacher, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 7, 1900 and grew up there and in Hannibal, Missouri where she attended high school. In 1918, she enrolled in the John Herron Art Institute at Indianapolis and winning scholarships for three years, was a pupil of William Forsyth. (In 1931, she completed credits for a BA degree from the Herron Institute). Other influenctial art teachers were Daniel Garber, R S Meryman, Hugh Breckenridge and Charles Grafly.

In 1925 True earned a scholarship to attend the Pennsylvania Academy for one year, and for the succeeding four years was a private teacher at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis.

Then she moved to Boulder Colorado, where she taught art at the University and was a member and President of the Boulder, Colorado Artists Group. She was also a member of the Boulder, Colorado Artist Association.

In 1936, Virginia True joined the faculty of the College of Home Economics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and in 1947, became Chair of the Department. She remained at the school, retiring in 1965 as Professor Emeritus, and spent her retirement years at Cape Cod and Del Ray, Florida, continuing to paint and give art lessons.

A traveler, in 1928, as part of a visit to Colorado, she began painting and sketching in the American West. After joining the Colorado faculty the following year, she chose subjects of landscapes, mining towns, cowboys, and botanics. Of this time, she said she was “pretty thoroughly acquainted with Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona and ‘edges’ of Utah and Montana.” (Kovinick, 308)

Among her exhibition venues were the Denver Art Museum, National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, Prospectors, Hoosier Salon, Carnegie Institute and Midwestern Artists. Awards included Honorable Mention, Annual Colorado Artists Exhibition, 1932-33; and First Prize, Midwest Art Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, 1935.

Sources:
Phil Kovinick and Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West
Information submitted by Katherine Tozier whose source was Who’s Who in American Art, 1936-37