Background
Mary Rogers was born May 7, 1882 in either Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Louisville, Kentucky.
Mary Rogers was born May 7, 1882 in either Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Louisville, Kentucky.
She and her sister Catherine Rogers lived for a time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Mary studied at the School of Design and was a member of the Arts Students League. She studied with Robert Henri in New York City and again in France.
She painted in watercolor and oil, and was known for still lifes, miniatures, landscapes, and cityscapes of New York City. She was one of the founders and directors of the Society of Independent Artists. During a trip to Europe in 1907, she also worked with Lucien Simon and Émile-René Ménard in Paris and Frank Brangwyn in London.
Mary Rogers was one of the founders and directors of the Society of Independent Artists.
She participated in the 1910 Exhibition of Independent Artists, organized by Robert Henri and others, in which 28 of the 97 artists whose works were displayed were women. Rogers was one of the artists who exhibited at the landmark Armory Show of 1913.
The show included one of her oil paintings, Portrait ($150). She also exhibited at the Panama Pacific Exhibition of 1915 and the National Academy of Design.
In 1921, a "Mary Rogers Memorial Exhibition" was held at the Waldorf Astoria New York, with the support of the Society of Independent Artists.
Robert Henri described Rogers as "not only an artist of ability but of importance" and applauded the "spiritual" nature of her technique. She is noted as having been one of the "ablest and most faithful executives" of the Society of Independent Artists, and "one who had borne a considerable share of its work from the first days of its existence." Saint: Museum of Fine Arts.