Ruth Cole Kainen (February 19, 1922 – September 13, 2009) was a major art collector and benefactor (with her husband, the artist

Jacob Kainen Jacob Kainen (December 7, 1909 – March 19, 2001) was an American painter and printmaker. He is also known as an art historian, writing books on John Baptist Jackson (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1962) and the etchings of Can ...

909–2001. The Kainens collected paintings, drawings, engravings and

prints In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...

, dating from the 15th century to modern times. While 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 ...

was the major recipient of their generosity, they also donated many works to the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Born in

Rosboro, Arkansas Rosboro (formerly Rosborough) is an unincorporated community in Clark Township, Pike County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in northeast Pike County on Arkansas Highway 8. Amity in adjacent Clark County is three miles to the ...

, Kainen grew up in Oregon, where her family owned and operated the Rosboro Timber and Lumber company. After earning a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Oregon in 1942, she joined the U.S. Navy WAVES and served during World War II. In 1950, she studied music and received a second bachelor's degree at Yale University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kainen, Ruth 1922 births 2009 deaths University of Oregon alumni People from Oregon Yale University alumni People from Pike County, Arkansas American art collectors Women art collectors United States Navy sailors WAVES personnel 21st-century American women