Eugene Speicher's father worked as superintendent of a manufacturing plant in Buffalo. Speicher studied nights under Wilcox and Hitchcock at the Buffalo Art School (1902-06) while working days in a lumberyard. A scholarship enabled him to go to New York where he studied under Chase and DuMond at the Art Students League (1907-08) and under Robert Henri in night classes at the New York School of Art (1908).
Speicher first came to Woodstock in the summer of 1908 to study under Carlson at the Art Students League summer school and shortly afterwards settled there permanently. He married Elsie L. Wilson in 1910 and the couple then travelled to Europe, and then again in 1926 and 1929.
One man exhibitions of his work were held at Montross (1918), Knoedler's (1920), Carnegie Institute (1924), and Rehn Gallery (1925, 1934, 1941, 1943). Speicher taught at the Art Students League (1908-13); 1919-20).
Speicher was among the group around Robert Henri which included George Bellows, Leon Kroll and John Carlson. One of his favorite sitters was Jean Bellows, the daughter of George Bellows, who was named after Speicher.
Speicher was principally a portrait painter. By the early 1920s he had so many commissions that he was able to limit the number he did to about six per year. Speicher's specialty was portraits of women; he was not a society painter, rather he treated his portraits as fully composed paintings with particular attention to design and composition.
At Speicher's death, his art collection was given to the American Academy of Arts and Letters with the proceeds of the sales to benefit young American artists. A memorial exhibition was held at the American Academy in 1963.
