Born in 1917, Jack M. Burton’s early years were spent in Cleveland, Ohio during the Great Depression. There his artistic talents were discovered at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Saturday Morning Classes for young artists by the renowned American artist Clarence Holbrook Carter who became a life-long friend and mentor.
          While a high school student Mr. Burton served as the staff illustrator on the Observer, a local newspaper. His multifaceted talent in illustration and design gave him celebrity status and the confidence that his aspirations were logical and art was his destiny.  Following graduation he attended the Cleveland School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) on a full four-year scholarship and graduated in 1939 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  He stayed on for an additional year of post-graduate work.
          During his college years, Burton worked with Oliver Boza on five murals that were installed by Daniel Boza in the Firestone Building at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City.  He began his professional career as an art director and fashion illustrator for several Ohio department-store companies. 
          A rising star on the Midwest art scene, Burton had a one-man show in 1937 at Clark’s Little Gallery and in a solo show at the Alcazar Hotel. During this era, he was part of the “Cleveland School,” a significant craft and artistic movement that was focused on Ohio and romanticized the ideals of commonplace persons and activities.
          Burton was exhibited in major art shows including the Butler Shows, the May Shows from 1937-1944, the Carnegie Show in 1941, the International Watercolor Show in Chicago in 1941, the Friends of American Art show in 1940, and the Grand Rapids Traveling Shows from 1937 through 1944.
          In 1947 he won a special award in the May Show and in 1949 he was awarded the show’s first prize. From 1948 to 1950, he also served as an instructor of advertising illustration at Cleveland School of Art, his alma mater.
          Jack Munson Burton came to New York City in the early nineteen-fifties during the Golden Age of advertising and editorial illustration. He created illustration art for TWA, Sabena, General Electric, Hyde Tools Manufacturing, Ford Motor Company and the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He was a member of the Westport Artists Association.
          Burton’s fine art, primarily watercolors hang in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Oklahoma Art Center and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. He retired to his country home in northern Westchester County where he painted and sculpted prolifically for the better part of two decades.

Cleveland, 1917 – New York, 2006