George Oberteuffer was born in 1878, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Princeton University and graduated in the class of 1900. After graduation, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with Thomas Anshutz and William Merritt Chase and received his Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Among the painting for which George Oberteuffer is best known, are those he painted during his nineteen-year stay in France. Inspired by the Luxembourg Gardens and the architecture of northern France, Oberteuffer developed a fresh and vigorous style, using vibrant color and brushstrokes influenced by French Impressionism. While in France, Oberteuffer met his future wife, Henriette Amiard, at the Academie Julian in Paris. The two often exhibited their paintings together and their careers thrived.

During Oberteuffer’s return to the United States, his paintings echoed the modern sensibilities of artists such as close friends John Marin and Arthur B. Carles. Oberteuffer became a member of the National Academy in 1939, and died soon after in Boston due to pneumonia.