Marguerite Gifford was a prominent Louisville artist who had studied watercolor in Great Britain and printmaking in Japan.

She was well-known in Louisville for her participation in such organizations as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and the Woman’s Club of Louisville. The Woman’s Club was a major promoter of art education and practice in the Louisville area for decades.

At the age of 60, in 1937, Mrs. Gifford decided to travel the world and develop her talent. She had shows with the Association of Honolulu Artists in Hawaii and at the Stendahl Art Galleries in Los Angeles. Further study at the Provincetown, Mass., art colony would stimulate an interest in abstract art.

Her first exhibition in Louisville was in 1942 and consisted of 40 watercolors. She had one-woman shows in 1944, 1946, 1955, 1960 and 1965 in venues as varied as the University of Louisville and the Cabbage Patch Settlement House. Two of her pieces ended up in the prestigious Joseph E. Seagram and Sons collection

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