Dusti Bongé (born Eunice Lyle Swetman) was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1903. She was an abstract expressionist painter.
Bongé graduated from Blue Mountain College and then moved to Chicago to study acting. She met her future husband, Arch Bongé, in Chicago. She then moved to New York to further her acting career. She and Arch married in 1928. They had their son, Lyle in 1929, born in Biloxi. Bongé began painting in the 1930’s.
Some of her work includes 35 colorful works on paper called “Images of Biloxi 1936-1945,” which were exhibited at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, Mississippi. Bongé was represented in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D. C. Her work is in the collections of 14 museums throughout the United States.
In the 1950’s she was member of the Abstract Expressionists and was represented by the prestigious Betty Persons gallery. Mississippi ETV has done half-hour documentary featuring her as abstract art. She died in 1993.
The Dusti Bongé Art Foundation in Biloxi was created in 1995.