Ruth Lewis (1905 - 1963)

North Sea Catch, c. 1950s, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 24 x 30 inches, titled verso, together with the artist's name and address, presented in an older (perhaps original) strip frame

$2,750

Ruth Lewis was a New York-based American Scene and modernist painter. Born in New York City, Lewis studied at the Art Students League, and with Francis Criss, Sidney Laufman, and Moses and Raphael Soyer. She was an active member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, Audubon Artists, Brooklyn Society of Artists, and New York Society of Women Artists, where she served as Vice President. Lewis exhibited extensively in the New York area during the 1940s with a focus on American Scene depictions of New York and its people. By the 1950s, Lewis' work became more modernist in its approach, while still maintaining objective references, such as the present example in which a fishing boat is barely visible in the background of an otherwise abstract canvas. Lewis' works were shown at the Society of Independent Artists, the American British Art Center, and with her member organizations. She won multiple prizes with the National Association of Women Artists and exhibited at the Everhart Museum of Art, which still holds examples of her work. Lewis was represented by Norlyst Gallery and DeMotte Gallery, both in New York. She is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and other standard references.