Painter, illustrator, and etcher Dorothy Wackerman Hutton was born in Cleveland, attended the University of Minnesota and graduated from the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts in 1922. She subsequently studied with André L'Hote in Paris and with Earl Horter and Hobson Pitman in Philadelphia, whereupon she pursued a career as a freelance artist in New York. Working in tandem with her husband, Hugh Hutton, she was later able to concentrate on fine arts after he became an editorial cartoonist for The Philadelphia Enquirer in 1934.

Dorothy Wackerman Hutton was active in arts-related clubs and societies in Philadelphia and was a founding member of the Philadelphia Water Color Society. She received numerous awards for her work, which was widely exhibited and which is held in the permanent collections of numerous institutions including the Library of Congress, the Harvard Art Gallery, and the Richmond, VA Art Museum. She died at Philadelphia.