Cecil Buller was born in Montreal to an upper-middle class family with ties to artistic circles that included William Brymner, Edwin Holgate and Randolph Hewton. Buller studied at the Art Association under Brymner, and in 1910 began studies at the Arts Students’ League in New York. In 1912 she left for Paris, where she worked with Maurice Denis and soon after began making linocut prints. She also studied at the Central School of Art and Design in London under Noel Rooke, beginning in 1916. Her graphic work demonstrates the influence of artists such as Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch, as well as the decorative line of Art Nouveau. Buller enjoyed international recognition in her lifetime, exhibiting widely in the United States and participating in two group shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.