Theodore Earl Butler (1861-1936)
Ohio-born Theodore Earl Butler began his career studying at the Art Students League in New York under William Merritt Chase. He then traveled to Paris, studied at the Academie Julian under Lefebvre, and won an honorable mention at the 1888 Salon de Paris. Butler first summered in Giverny in 1888. After several visits to the town, he settled there in 1892.
In his first decade in Giverny, Butler associated with the group of American expatriates, which included Philip Leslie Hale and Theodore Robinson, who were drawn to the natural beauty of the town, its proximity to Paris, and the presence of longtime resident Claude Monet. While Monet generally did not associate with or teach the younger Americans, Butler grew more familiar than most; in 1892 he married Monet’s stepdaughter, Suzanne Hoschede, and he and Monet eventually became close. The wedding of Butler and Suzanne Hoschede is the subject of Robinson’s The Wedding March (1892, Terra Museum of American Art).
After Suzanne died in 1899, Butler again married into the Monet family, this time to another stepdaughter, Marthe. He spent much of his career in Giverny where he painted local scenes, but he also painted in Yport, Veules Les Roses, Honfleur, and Paris. His two children were often the subject of his Giverny paintings, and his home was a popular destination for his fellow artists, such as Philip Hale and William Hart. Butler exhibited at the Paris Salon, NAD, PAFA, Salon d’Automne, the Salon des Independants, the Turn International Exposition, and the Armory Show in New York.
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Information courtesy of Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers and Cowan’s Auctions Inc.