"One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days,
but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life."

Edward Burgess Butler (1853- 1928)
Born: Lewiston, Maine 1853 Died: Pasadena, California 1928

Edward was born to Manly Orville and Elizabeth Howe Butler. Edward Burgess Butler understood the art of business as well as the art business. He was a successful businessman, art collector and painter. Butler was educated in the Boston public schools and started his business career there. in the late 1800s he moved to Chicago, Illinois where, along with his siblings, he founded Butler Brothers mail order firm. The success of that business allowed Butler to build an art collection featuring the works of George Inness. This entire collection was later donated to the Chicago Art Institute. As a leading businessman in Chicago he was chairman of the finance committee for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. In addition, Butler was a trustee of the Chicago Art Institute. In 1903 Butler began maintaining a residence in Pasadena, California, where he would spend the winter months. When he retired to Pasadena in 1914, where he painted in his studio overlooking the arroyo, and was active in the art community. He won several awards for his paintings. Butler was a charter member of the Pasadena Society of artists and it’s first president, 1925-27.

Butler took art/painting lessons from Frank Charles Peyraud, and exhibited landscapes under the pseudonym of Edward Burgess until he won recognition and then devoted himself seriously to what had been his hobby. He exhibited regularly, showing solo at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1917, lending paintings to the Art Institute of Chicago for a special show in 1920, and exhibited there until 1927.Many of his paintings are of California scenes, though some of the most interesting of his slightly impressionistic works were painted in New England and Illinois. Butler’s The Brook appeared at the *Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Discussing various works exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago two years later, a critic reported: "In several of Mr. Butler’s California pictures the decorative quality of eucalyptus trees has been well realized. Indeed, his California landscapes are quite uniformly charming. Still, it is among the hills of New England that this artist seems most at home… His Berkshire pictures are… delightful in color, composition and in sentiment." Perhaps the most significant aspect of Butler’s art was his versatility. Exploiting an unusually wide variety of *subject matter, he elasticized his technique to suit the scene while maintaining the general impressionist formula. Although many of Butler’s late works reveal the influence of the *California Broad Style, some pictures lack in color, reflecting more the *tonalist style than impressionism. Other canvases suggest that Butler was more of a businessman than a poet; at times he rendered nature in a matter-of-fact manner. On the other hand, his compositions are pleasantly balanced and often imposing views. Butler was a member of the Chicago Art Club, and his work once could be found in the permanent collections of several museums. In recent years, his works have seldom been exhibited.

Pasadena Society of Artists
1925: 1st Annual Exhibition, Pasadena Art Institute @ Carmelita Gardens House, Pasadena, CA
1917: (solo) Art Institute of Chicago in 1917

Biographic Information excerpted from the “Pasadena Star-News” , February 21, 1928

Biographic References: Stuart, 1915, pp. 174, 176-177; Stuart, 1917; Sparks, 1971, vol. 2, p. 316; Moure and Smith, 1975, p. 35; Hughes, 1986, p. 75.