Susan Merrill Ketcham

Susan Merrill Ketcham (June 28, 1841 – February 1, 1930) was an American painter. In 1883 she helped organize the Art Association of Indianapolis.

Biography Ketcham was born on June 28, 1841 Indianapolis, Indiana. Both sides of her family had an illustrious history in the state. Her father, John Lewis Ketcham, was a prominent lawyer, and son of early Indiana settler Col. John Ketcham. Her mother, Jane Merrill Ketcham, was the daughter of the first treasurer of Indiana, Samuel Merrill. Susan was the third child of John and Jane, with five younger siblings, including William A. Ketcham, Attorney General of Indiana from 1894 to 1898. The Ketcham children's earliest art education came from the wife of Bishop Talbott, who taught them both music and painting at home.

Career

Ketcham studied at the Indiana School of Art, the Art Students League of New York, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her teachers included William Merritt Chase and Charles Herbert Woodbury.

Ketcham's first solo exhibit was held in the H. Lieber Company gallery in Indianapolis in June 1900, although her work had previously been displayed in many other exhibits across the country. The show included a collection of 60 oils, water colors, and pastels.

One of Ketcham's more celebrated pieces was a painting of her mother, originally titled Portrait of a Lady and later changed to Portrait of My Mother. It was exhibited during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

She lived in a New York apartment near her studio in Carnegie Hall, until she decided to return home to Indianapolis in 1927.

Legacy Ketcham died on February 1, 1930, in Indianapolis.

Gallery