Emerson C. Burkhart, born on a farm in Union Township, Putnam County in 1905, was the son of Albert and Nora Burkhart and became a prolific painter closely associated with Columbus. He graduated from Kalida High School in 1924 and from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1927, then studied art in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and in New York City before settling in Columbus. In 1937 he married Mary Ann Martin, an artists' model who devoted herself to his career. During a 40-year career he completed an estimated 3,000 pictures, including street scenes, rural landscapes, and more than 250 self-portraits, remarking that his face was "cheaper than a model's and always there." Inspired by the American Scene movement of the first part of the 20th century, he sought to render the world around him in "painting so real, people feel compelled to touch," and said his rural background helped shape what and how he liked to paint. While abstract styles dominated the American art scene during his active years, he rejected them as "wiggles and curlicues." His work entered private and public collections around the country, including the Columbus Museum of Art and the Ohio Historical Society, and he also painted murals at Central High School in Columbus and in Stillman Hall at the Ohio State University.