Ruth Starr Rose
| Ruth Starr Rose | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ruth Starr 1887 Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died |
1965 Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Vassar College Art Students League of New York |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | American Scene |
| Awards | Mary Hills Goodwin Prize |
Ruth Starr Rose (1887–1965) was an American artist, lithographer and serigrapher best known for her paintings of African-American life in Maryland in the 1930s and 1940s.[1][2]
Early life and education
Rose was born in 1887 into an affluent family in Wisconsin that moved to Maryland's Eastern Shore after the turn of the century. There she attended the DeShields United Methodist Church. She was socially active and it was her familiarity with town residents that allowed her a glimpse into the African-American experience.[3][4]
She left Hope House (Easton, Maryland), the family estate, to study, as her mother had, at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She studied with artist and printmaker Victoria Hutson Huntley and lithographer George C. Miller. After graduation from Vassar, she enrolled in the Art Students League of New York.
Career and works
Rose focused her paintings on African-American life on the Maryland shore. Rose and her family had long supported civil rights for African-Americans and they were well connected with black artists and performers, including Paul Robeson, Lead Belly, and Roland Hayes. Rose's subjects included local descendants of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Ross Tubman, a sail maker, professional female crab pickers, and heroic veterans. She presents them with "dignity and compassion" that was often rare in portrayals of African Americans of that era.[5]
In 1937, when she was living in Caldwell, N.J., she was awarded the Mary Hills Goodwin Prize at the exhibition of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in New York City for her painting "The Twilight Quartet," a portrait of four African-American musicians.[6] In 1957 she was awarded a prize in the graphics category at the exhibition of the National Association of Women Artists.[7]
Rose also was interested in spirituals. He ear was moved by their dissonant beauty, and she created illustrations of the songs reflecting how members of her congregation felt as they sang the melodies. Alain LeRoy Locke selected two of her African American spirituals for his pioneering work, The Negro in Art in 1940.[8]
Her works have been on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Library of Congress and elsewhere.
Personal
She was married to the late William Searls Rose. They had two children.[9]
References
- ↑ Ruth Starr Rose Smithsonian American Art Museum, accessed April 8, 2016
- ↑ Before 'Black Lives Matter,' there was Ruth Starr Rose The Washington Post, October 6, 2015
- ↑ Lewis Museum presents Ruth Starr Rose's prints and paintings of her African-American Eastern Shore neighbors Baltimore Sun Times, January 6, 2016
- ↑ Ruth Starr Rose: Illuminating African American Life in 1930-'40s Maryland Vassar Quarterly, Winter 2016, Volume 112, Issue 1
- ↑ Ruth Starr Rose (1887-1965): Revelations of African American Life in Maryland and the World The Lewis Museum, October 10, 2015
- ↑ 13 Prizes Awarded at Women's Art Show The New York Times, January 26, 1937
- ↑ Art: A Game of Styles: Offerings from Abstract to Realist Are Displayed in National Women's Show The New York Times, May 9, 2957
- ↑ Ruth Starr Rose (1896-1965): Revelations of African American Life in Maryland and the World by Barbara Paca, Publisher: The Reginald F. Lewis Museum; 1st edition (October 1, 2015), intro, ISBN 978-0996687904
- ↑ Ruth Starr Rose is dead: Artist and lithographer The New York Times, October 26, 1965