Hattie Elizabeth Burdette (1872–1955) was an American painter. She painted

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s, miniatures, and

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s in oil, watercolor and pastels. Burdette's best-known work was a portrait of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

as a

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

, painted for the George Washington Bicentennial Commission using items that Washington himself had used during his life.

Early life

Burdette was born and raised in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and educated in the local schools before studying art with Harold MacDonald at the Norwood Institute. John langdon

Artistic career

Burdette was very active in the Washington D.C. arts community. She was one of the charter members of the Washington Water Color Club at its founding in 1896, and remained a member, exhibiting with them nearly every year until 1926. Burdette was also one the founders of the Society of Washington Artists. She served as vice-president from 1926 to 1929 and exhibited with the society for nearly every year between 1892 and 1932, and received honorable mention in 1922. Burdette was a founding member of the Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, of which organization she served as president in 1933 and 1934. Her work appeared in the Greater Washington Independent Exhibition of 1935. A portrait of Mabel Boardman, owned by the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

, appeared in an exhibit at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

in 1950. Her miniatures won several awards at the Royal Society of Miniature Painters in London. Burdette's most famous painting, a portrait of George Washington as a freemason was commissioned in 1931 by Freemason and U.S. Congressman Sol Bloom for the George Washington Bicentennial Commission. Actor Tefft Johnson served as a model for Washington. The painting was donated to the

George Washington Masonic National Memorial The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is a Masonic building and memorial located in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C. It is dedicated to the memory of George Washington, the first President of the United States and a Mason ...

by Sol Bloom as a memorial to his wife. Prints of the portrait were sold as souvenirs for the Washington bicentennial.

Death and legacy

Burdette lived her whole life in Washington, D.C. and continued painting until about three years before her death in 1955. She is buried at Congressional Cemetery along with other Burdette family members. Marquise de Pelleport

Collections

* Architect of the Capital, Washington, D.C. *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, Washington, D.C. *

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

, Washington, D.C. * Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. *

, Alexandria, VA * Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA *

Hagley Museum and Library The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont ...

, Wilmington, DE * Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH * Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burdette, Hattie Elizabeth 1872 births 1955 deaths American portrait painters Portrait miniaturists 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters Painters from Washington, D.C. Burials at the Congressional Cemetery