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Biographical information for George Elbert Burr.
Ten years after his birth in Monroe Falls, Ohio,
George Elbert Burr
moved with his parents to Cameron, Missouri, where his father
opened a
hardware store. Burr was interested in art from an early age and
his
first etchings were created with the use of zinc scraps found in
the
spark pan under the kitchen stove. He then printed the plates on
a press
located in the tin shop of his father's store.
In December of 1878, Burr left for Illinois to
attend the Art Institute
of Chicago (then called the Chicago Academy of Design). By April
of the
following year, Burr had moved back to Cameron and the few
months of
study in Chicago constituted the only formal training the artist
was to
have.
Back in Missouri, Burr heeded his family's wishes
by working in his
father's store. However, he did not abandon his art, often using
his
father's railway pass to travel around the countryside on
sketching
trips. In 1894, Burr married Elizabeth Rogers, and the following
year he
became an instructor for a local drawing class.
By 1888, the artist was employed as an illustrator
for Scribner's,
Harper's, and The Observer. During that time, his illustrations
were
also published in Volume II of John Muir's Picturesque
California. In
December of the same year, Burr relocated to New York City for
several
months to work on assignment for The Observer. Over the next
several
years, Burr worked and traveled extensively as an illustrator
contributing to additional periodicals including/The
Cosmopolitan and
Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
In 1892, Burr began a four-year project to
illustrate a catalog for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art of Heber R. Bishop's jade collection.
After
completing approximately 1,000 etchings of the collection, Burr
used the
money he earned on the project to fund a trip abroad. The artist
and his
wife spent the years between 1896 and 1901 sketching and
traveling on a
tour of Europe that spanned from Sicily to North Wales. After
their
return from Europe, the Burr's settled in New Jersey where Burr
sustained a living through the sale of his etchings and
watercolors.
During the next few years, Burr's watercolors were displayed in
galleries and exhibitions along the east coast and as far west
as Kansas
City, Missouri.
In 1906, the couple moved to Denver, Colorado, in
an effort to improve
George's poor health. While in Colorado, Burr completed Mountain
Moods, a series of 16 etchings. His years in Denver were highly
productive despite his poor health. He gained membership to art
organizations including the New York Society of Etchers and the
Brooklyn
Society of Etchers (later renamed Society of American Etchers).
Burr's
winters were spent traveling through the deserts of Southern
California,
Arizona, and New Mexico. In 1921, Burr obtained copyrights on
the last
of 35 etchings included in his well-known Desert Set.
Burr's failing health prompted a move to a more
moderate climate and the
couple settled in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1924. In Phoenix, Burr
served as
president of the Phoenix Fine Arts Association and participated
in the
city's first major art exhibition. Burr remained in Phoenix
until his
death in 1939.
Throughout his lifetime Burr worked in a variety of
mediums: oil
paintings, watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings and etchings - all
pulled
from his own presses.
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