Ruth Emerson -Gladioli – Still Life Oil on Canvas c 1940 P2741

A strong emphasis on volumes gives what might have been a conventional still life some real heft. Really strong work.

The canvas measures 20” x 24” and the period frame is 24” x 28”.

Born in Santa Ana, CA on Aug. 30, 1890,  Ruth Heil graduated from Santa Ana High School in 1909, and then received degrees from Uuniversity of Southern California, University of California at Los Angeles, and Columbia University. 

During summers she studied at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Pratt Institute in New York City.  She married Fred Emerson early in life and in 1919 began teaching art at Bakersfield (CA) High School, a position she held until retirement in 1957. 

In 1977 she married Noble Stutzman and was a resident of Bakersfield until her death on Feb. 18, 1986. 

An eclectic painter, her work includes palette-knife portraits, Pointillism, landscapes, and colorful still lifes.