Ruth Payne Burgess

Ruth Payne Burgess (October 11, 1865 in Montpelier, Vermont – March 11, 1934 in New York) was a naturalistic painter of portraits, still lifes, and genre work. Her grandparents were Captain Nathan Jewett and Ruth Payne and her great-grandfather was Elisha Payne. She attended school in Northampton, Massachusetts, at the Mary A. Burnham School. Burgess founded the Columbia University's political science department. She married John William Burgess on September 2, 1885. Burgess was previously married on August 24, 1869, to Augusta Thayer Jones, and in 1905 had houses in New York City and Montpelier, Vermont. After John Burgess retired from Columbia, the couple lived in Newport, Rhode Island in a house named "Athenwood" and in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.

Education Burgess studied at Barnard College, the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York under George de Forest Brush, Kenyon Cox, and James Carroll Beckwith. She also studied in Europe and made paintings in Italy and Germany, where she painted the portrait of Prince August Wilhelm. A report of the Newport Annual Exhibition in 1915 records a visitor as saying, "The picture I like best is this head by Mrs. Burgess, it's more natural and lifelike than any picture in the whole show". Her work contains orientalist themes.

In 1899 Burgess joined the National Association of Women Artists and the Woman's Art Club of New York, where she served as the organization's president from 1905 to 1910 and contributed to its financial growth. She was able to call on friends for money as well as make personal donations. Her donation of five hundred dollars contributed to the association offering a one hundred dollar prize for five years. Burgess was also president of the Art Students League for a period of time.

Additionally, Burgess was a member of groups such as the Academy of Fine Arts of Hartford, the American Water Color Society, the Society of New York Painters, and the Allied Artists of America. Burgess was a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Works Green Chinese Jar, oil on canvas, 1924 Floral and Chinoiserie still life, oil on canvas, 1929 Floral Still Life, oil on canvas, 1928 Maderno, Lake of Garda, Italy, oil on canvas, 1931 Poppy in a Vase, oil on canvas Portrait of a Gentleman, 1927 Portrait of Dr. Daniel Bliss, Amherst College Portrait of Admiral Charles E. Clark Portrait of Honorable A. B. Hepburn, Young Woman with Violin and Hat, watercolor, 1903