Born in Danville, Virginia in 1904, Fitzgerald studied at Randolph-Macon Woman's College (B.A.), also at the Art Student's League in New York with John Sloan (two years), and with Maurice Stern and Ambrose Webster in Provincetown, Massachusetts for three summers. 

While she fulfilled many portrait commissions of notable figures, other work, expressionist in style, represents her quest for self-discovery. Fitzgerald went on to gain national status as a painter and teacher of art, (showing 500 of 1652 characters).