Description
John A. Ruthven was a wildlife artist based in his native Ohio, as well as a naturalist, author and lecturer. A major retrospective exhibition of his work at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History was titled “John A. Ruthven — In the Audubon Tradition,” an apt characterization since like John James Audubon, his paintings are the result of careful study of the bird in the field as well as from preserved bird skins, and are rendered in meticulous accurate detail. Like Audubon bird prints, those by Ruthven are also engraved, printed on a large sheet and hand colored, and show the birds in their natural habit among local plant life, including trees and flowers.
Ruthven was drafted into the Navy right after high school and served two years during World War II. He was interested in art and was essentially self-taught, also doing some drawing and cartooning for the Navy. After his discharge he opened a commercial art studio in Cincinnati in 1946. In 1960 Ruthven won the Federal Duck Stamp competition, a major prize for a bird artist, which he characterizes as a defining moment for his career, because he was immediately approached by Abercrombie & Fitch to sell his work nationwide. From that point on he was able to devote himself to wildlife art full time. He has also produced works on other natural history subjects, such as mushrooms and other animals. He has traveled around the world on commission to paint wildlife. Ruthven’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at both art and natural history museums, including the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York, and the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, New Jersey, and are also in numerous public and corporate collections. In 2004, Ruthven was awarded the National of Medals of Arts by President George W. Bush in a ceremony at the White House. In 2019, the Cincinnati Museum Center published his memoirs.
Norma Gloria Morgan was an engraver and painter known for her printmaking and Expressionist imagery. An African-American artist, she studied at the Arts Student League with Hans Hofmann, and with the renowned printmaker Stanley W. Hayter. Her works are in the collections of major museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She has won numerous awards for her work.
Inscriptions below image: Original Watercolour by John A Ruthven. Engraved by Norma Morgan. Printed by Andersen-Lamb (Hand-coloured), New York. Published by DeSales Limited, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. © 1969.
References:
“CET Express – John Ruthven.” Cincinnati Public Media. 13 July 2006. http://www.cetconnect.org/genericPlayer.asp?id=417 (5 September 2008).
Hollister, Dean, Amy I. Furman, Mary Bruccoli and Tamara Adams, eds. Who’s Who in American Art. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1989. p. 746.
“John A. Ruthven — The 20th Century Audubon.” Ruthven.com. http://ruthven.com/about-me/ (30 August 2018).
“John Ruthven, master wildlife artist, naturalist, philanthropist, dead at 95.” Cincinnati Enquirer. 12 October 2020. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/10/12/john-ruthven-artist-and-philanthropist-dead-95/662982002/?fbclid=IwAR1BOsQYZQCLpuI5CN0SU0nwLoj9TUpyidBd6y9hf-tz0Mdf1BH0fxr8c3w (13 October 2020).
“Norma Gloria Morgan.” AskArt.com. 2000-2008. http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/search/ArtistKeywords.aspx?artist=106989 (8 September 2008).
“Passenger pigeon.” Wikipedia. 1 September 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon (4 September 2018).
