800-Sister Mary Rufinia Indiana / Germany (1885 - 1959) mountainous landscape with trees oil on canvas Signed with initials lower left. Hoosier Salon. needs cleaning Biography from the Archives of askART: "Sister Mary Rufinia was a Lafayette artist who began painting in the 1920's. Born in Germany in 1885, Sister Mary Rufinia was a Catholic nun who launched her nursing career in St. Elizabeth Hospital (Lafayette) in 1906. Crippled too severely in an accident to continue nursing, she became involved as an artist and an art teacher in 1920. She studied at the Academy of Art in Berlin, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Duchene College. In the 1930's, she opened a studio at St. Francis High School near the hospital and taught watercolor, pottery and sculpture. In an essay titled: "Reveries of an Artist" she wrote: 'For me, an artist, one of the greatest happiness's this world can offer is to behold the beauty of creation. In each tree, sunrise, sunset, ocean, mountain, landscape, and garden, my soul overflows with gratitude to the Supreme Maker.' She died in 1959." Source: Lafayette, Indiana Journal and Courier. Date unknown Submitted by Edward Bentley, researcher from Lansing, Michigan 19 1/2"H x 23 3/4"(sight), 24 3/4"H x 28 3/4"W(frame)