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Notable people · Artist

Emerson Burkhart

Born on a farm in Union Township near Kalida, Burkhart taught at the Ohio School of Art in Columbus and painted portraits, street scenes and WPA murals, including ten at Ohio State's Stillman Hall.

At a glance

Born
1905
Died
1969-11
Education
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
Known as
Artist
Organizations
Ohio School of Art, Works Progress Administration

Life story

Emerson Burkhart was born on a farm in Union Township, near Kalida, in 1905. He attended Ohio Wesleyan and studied with painter Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown on Cape Cod.

He moved to Columbus in 1931 to teach at the Ohio School of Art and married Mary-Ann Martin in 1939. In 1934 he painted a 13-by-70-foot mural, Music, for Central High School; it was painted over in 1938 as 'too sexy' and restored between 1999 and 2005. In 1938 he finished ten large murals at Stillman Hall at Ohio State, still in place.

He painted an estimated 3,000 pictures in a 40-year career, including a portrait of Carl Sandburg. After his wife died in 1955 he traveled as artist-in-residence with a school program, then returned home and died in Columbus in November 1969.

Timeline

  • 1905: Born (near Kalida, OH) source
  • 1931: Moves to Columbus to teach (Columbus, OH) source
  • 1934: Paints mural Music for Central High School (Columbus, OH) source
  • 1938: Paints ten murals at Stillman Hall; Music is painted over (Columbus, OH) source
  • 1939: Marries Mary-Ann Martin source
  • 1955: Wife dies source
  • 1969-11: Dies at home (Columbus, OH) source
  • 1999: Restoration of Music begins (Columbus, OH) source

What Emerson is known for

  • About 3,000 paintings
  • WPA murals at Columbus Central High School and Stillman Hall
  • Music (mural, 1934)
  • Ten Stillman Hall murals (1938)
  • Portrait of Carl Sandburg

Honors and things named for them

  • Ohio historical marker 'Artist Emerson Burkhart' in Putnam County

Family

  • wife: Mary-Ann Martin

Places in Ohio to see

Ohio places

Where Emerson Burkhart was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

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