FANNIE C. BURR

(1858-1931)

Fannie Burr was born in Monroe, Connecticut and the elder of the Burr sisters. Her father, James, was once a prosperous fruit farmer and one of a large family that counted among its antecedents the notorious Aaron Burr. Fannie showed artistic talent as a child and studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and later at the Art Students League in New York City. She made a living as a portraitist but was often needed back at the farm. No less precocious than her sister, the younger Jennie followed in Fannie’s footsteps and tried her hand at painting. The challenges of farm life exacerbated by family strife and financial problems kept the Burr sisters from attaining the level of recognition many art historians believe they deserved. After Fannie died, in 1931, Jennie stopped painting to become a recluse until her own death in 1961. A critic described Fannie’s work as “having a touch of the Surreal.”