Ruth Ray
Ruth Ray | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 8, 1919 |
| Died | December 18, 1977(aged 58) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Art Students League of New York |
| Known for | painting |
| Movement | Magic Realism |
Ruth Ray(1919–1977) was an American painter in theMagic Realismstyle. Educated at thePennsylvania Academy of the Fine Artsand theArt Students League of New York,she drew inspiration from the horses and farm life ofNew England.[1]
Biography
[edit]Ruth Ray was born in 1919 into a sophisticatedNew York Cityhousehold. Her mother was an earlyfeminist,a managing editor ofVogue,and a prolific author of self-help books. Ray attendedSwarthmore College,Barnard College,thePennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,and theArt Students League of New York.In 1948, she married and established a home inDarien, Connecticut.She had a successful career as a commercial artist and portraitist; among her most famous portraits was the golferSam Snead.[2]However, her passion was an idiosyncratic form ofMagic realisminspired by her love of horses, New England farm life, and the Maine seacoast.
Works
[edit]Inspired by the surrealists but demonstrating a cultivated sense of restraint in the depiction of her subject matter, Ray juxtaposed the ordinary with the fantastical. "Her art might be called a rational surrealism," opined the criticFrederic Whitakerin 1957. "Some of her paintings suggest the skill of a Dalí with his irritating shock elements omitted."[3]Ray's paintings are in the collections of several museums, including theNational Art Museum of Sport,theNational Academy of Design,and theSheldon Museum of Art.Her "Swordsplay" (1962) numbers among the illustrations in "The Personality of the Horse."[4]In her 2012-2013 exhibition, "Her Own Style: An Artist's Eye," curatorJudith Sheaselected Ray's "Self-Portrait" (1962) as one of thirty-three female artists' self-portraits from among the collection of theNational Academy Museum.[5]
Among her various awards, Ray received the Alger Prize[6]in 1944 for "Portrait of a Young Actor" and the American Artist Magazine Medal of Honor in 1956.[7]The Canadian poetDiana Hayespublished a poem dedicated to Ruth Ray titled "Awakening" inLabyrinth of Green(Oakville, Ontario: Plumleaf Press, 2019).
Notes
[edit]- ^Boros, Phyllis A.S. (November 26, 2010)."Ruth Ray's Nativity paintings set in red barns of Connecticut".Connecticut Post.RetrievedDecember 25,2011.
- ^"Ray, Ruth: ruth Ray tells more about Sam Snead than his golf swing".The National Art Museum of Sport. Archived fromthe originalon October 24, 2011.RetrievedDecember 25,2011.
- ^Whitaker, Frederick(April 1957). "Ruth Ray".American Artist.21:22.
- ^Aymar, Brandt and Edward Sagarin, eds."The Personality of the Horse.Wings Books, 1963, p. 44
- ^Zahn, Paula."Profile: Judith Shea and 'Her Own Style'",NYC-ART, 20 December 2012. Retrieved on February 16, 2013. Ray's portrait is shown at 3:31.
- ^"RUTH RAY ENGAGED TO DR, J. R. GRAHAM: Artist Who Won Alger Award Will Be Married to Army Veteran of Aleutians".New York Times.November 11, 1947.ProQuest108043976.
- ^Whitaker, Frederick(April 1957)."Ruth Ray".American Artist.21:20.[dead link]
External links
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