Raymond Steth (1917 - 1997), born Raymond Ryles, was a
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
-based graphic artist recognized for his paintings and lithographs on the African-American condition in the mid-20th century, often through scenes of rural life and poverty. Working under the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
's graphics division in the 1930s and 1940s, Steth's art covered a range of topics and emotions from pleasurable farm life to protest and despair.
Early life
Steth was born in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
in 1917 to Lulu Mann and Charles Ryles, a working-class farming family. He spent much of his childhood on a large farm in North Carolina, which would later influence his artwork. Rolando Corpus notes: "Steth had a religious upbringing within the Pentecostal faith. 'The frenetic atmosphere of the church,' he recalled, 'was such that they all seemed ready to go to heaven.'" After moving to Philadelphia at age eight, Steth attended Central High School for two years. He subsequently worked in sign painting and vaudeville theater. Steth was educated at the Philadelphia College of Art from 1941 until 1943, and the Barnes Foundation from 1942 to 1944.
Career
Steth was associated with the American Scene movement, which included
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
* Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance An ...
artists concerned with contemporary social topics. Steth began working in the graphics division of the WPA-sponsored
Federal Art Project
The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...
(FAP) in Philadelphia starting in 1938, where he met and collaborated with
Dox Thrash
Dox Thrash (1893–1965) was an African-American artist who was famed as a skilled Drafter, draftsman, master printmaker, and painter and as the co-inventor of the Carborundum printmaking process.Donnelly, Michell"The Art of Dox Thrash" The Encycl ...
, known for developing new methods of
Carborundum printmaking
Carborundum mezzotint is a printmaking technique in which the image is created by adding light passages to a dark field. It is a relatively new process invented in the US during the 1930s by Hugh Mesibov, Michael J. Gallagher, and Dox Thrash, a ...
, who believed Steth's work could be transferred to a print medium. He also worked alongside Michael J. Gallagher, John Turner, and
Claude Clark
Claude Clark (November 11, 1915 – April 21, 2001) was an American painter, printmaker and art educator. Clark's subject matter was the diaspora of African American culture, including dance scenes, street urchins, marine life, landscapes, an ...
, a group with whom he would often exhibit his work with. Steth shared a studio with Clark during their time in the WPA/FAP. He also associated with the artists, Hubert Mesibov and
Samuel Brown Samuel Brown may refer to:
* Samuel Brown (Royal Navy officer) (1776–1852), English pioneer suspension bridge engineer and inventor
* Samuel Brown (engineer) (died 1849), English inventor of early internal combustion engine
* Samuel Brown (Wisco ...
.
Post-WPA and military service, Steth continued his involvement with the arts and community causes: "Steth directed the Philographic School of Art, a printmaking and graphics workshop... Other jobs included helping establish a print program at Morgan State College in Baltimore, catering, and working for the Mayor's Office of Community Development." Additionally, he was involved with the
Fleisher Art Memorial
Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial is a set of four buildings consisting of the former Church of the Evangelists and St. Martin's College for Indigent Boys. Previously an Episcopal church in the Bella Vista neighborhood of South Philadelphia, it is ...
from 1948 until 1954, and taught at the
Philadelphia College of Art
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1 ...
from 1949 until 1951. He was later a resident at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Steth died in 1997.
Steth's work is in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...
, the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
Woodmere Art Museum
Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, S ...