Painter and teacher Virginia True was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from the John Herron Art Institute in 1925, and also had a one-year scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Her teacher wrote, “I can say without exaggeration that she was one of the best pupils I ever had during the 25 years I was a teacher at the John Herron Art School.” In her watercolors, True worked in the style of Modernist artists in the plein air tradition.

Working in Colorado, True became a member of the Boulder Colorado Artists Group and the Boulder and Colorado Artist Association. Her awards include Honorable Mention – Annual Colorado Artists Exhibition, 1932-33, and First Prize – Midwest Art Exhibition, Kansas City Art Institute, 1935. At this time, True served as an instructor of art at the University of Colorado. In the spring of 1931, True also exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She later became a faculty member at Cornell University and, upon retirement from the University, spent the remainder of her life on Cape Cod.