Virginia True

The Ditch

1934

Virginia True first came to Colorado in 1928 as part of her travels around the American West, during which she painted and sketched prolifically. She had been trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where she would have been exposed mainly to realist painting. Upon coming to Colorado, she was introduced to Southwestern Modernism, which began at once to influence her work. Her interest in Western subjects, namely landscapes, mining towns, cowboys and native plants, informed her work both in Colorado and throughout her life. True was educated in Missouri and taught art for four years in Indianapolis before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1929. She taught art at the University of Colorado, Boulder and was the President of the Boulder Artist’s Group. In 1926 she left Colorado to teach at Cornell in Ithaca, New York. Her exhibition venues included the Denver Art Museum, the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, and the Carnegie Institute. Prizes: Denver Art Museum, 1932, 1933; Kansas City Art Institute, 1935; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, 1939; Annual Colorado Artists Exhibition, 1932, 1933; First Prize, Midwest Art Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, 1934; Nelson Eddy Purchase Prize, 1939. Exhibitions: Denver Art Museum, 1932, 1933; Kansas City Art Institute, 1935; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, 1939; Annual Colorado Artists Exhibition, 1932, 1933; Midwest Artists Exhibition; Kansas City Art Institute, 1934; American Watercolor Society; National Association of Women Artists; Carnegie Institute; Cornell University; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery Ann Regional, New York, 1939; Trends American Art; Carnegie Institute 1941; Retrospective Exhibition, Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, Cornell University, 1965. Works Held: Colorado State University, Fort Collins; University of Colorado, Boulder; Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Indiana State Museum. ©David Cook Galleries, LLC