Molly (Burroughs) Luce

(1896-1986) Molly Luce painted views of small town America in the simplified manner of the "American Scene" painters of the 1930s. Her narrative style, gentle humor, and wit earned her the sobriquet "the American Breughel." Born in Pittsburgh, she studied at Wheaton College and in 1916 moved to New York to attend the Art Students' League, studying with K.H. Miller, F. Luis Mora, and George Bellows. She traveled to Europe in 1922 and upon her return had a solo exhibition at the Whitney Studio Club, where her work met with the enthusiastic acclaim of critic and art historian Alan Burroughs. The two were married in 1926 and traveled throughout Europe studying some of the world's great paintings. Luce exhibited widely in Boston and New York throughout the 1930s and '40s. Her work appeared in shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cincinnati Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran Gallery, the National Academy of Design, and the Rhode Island School of Design. Luce sometimes went by the name Marion L. Burroughs. She lived for many years in Belmont, Massachusetts and in Little Compton, Rhode Island from 1942 until her death.

Biography courtesy of Roger King Gallery of Fine Art, www.antiquesandfineart.com/rking