Ruth Egri (1911–1996) was an American artist, painter, muralist, educator, and illustrator of Hungarian-Jewish descent who worked in the

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 ...

and in the WPA ''New Reading Materials Program'' during the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

. She is known for her mural at

Lincoln Hospital (Bronx, New York) Lincoln Hospital is a full service medical center and teaching hospital affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, New York. The medical center is municipally owned by NYC Health + Ho ...

, and for teaching mural painting at the

Spokane Art Center The Spokane Art Center in Spokane, Washington, was a community art school opened in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project during the Great Depression. Its staff included many notable artists, and it was widely ...

, Washington.

Education

Egri studied at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

, the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, and the Master Institute of the Roerich Museum with Howard Giles.

Family

Egri's parents were

Ilona ''Ilona'' is a Hungarian female given name, the traditional name of the Queen of the Fairies in Magyar folklore. Its etymology is uncertain. A common theory is that Ilona is cognate with the Greek given name ''Helen''. Diminutive forms include ...

and playwright

Lajos Egri Lajos N. Egri (June 4, 1888 – February 7, 1967) was a Hungarian-American playwright and teacher of creative writing. He is the author of ''The Art of Dramatic Writing'', which is widely regarded as one of the best works on the subject of playw ...

and she had multiple brothers. She painted and exhibited in Taos, NM with one of her brothers, Ted Egri.

Career

On top of all her art projects, Egri was also an educator who taught courses at the

in Washington and the WPA's New Reading Materials Program, sponsored by the NYC Board of Education. Egri was most interested in making art that primarily expressed the female figure.

Works

Egri's art works that have been discovered upon her death include: *2 sketchbooks *14 loose sketches *21 drawings *13 watercolors She also painted an exhibit in

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

with her brother Ted Egri.

Appearances

Her illustrations appeared in three children's books.

References

External links

Painting by Ruth Egri
1911 births 1996 deaths Artists from Spokane, Washington American women painters 20th-century American painters American muralists American women illustrators American illustrators 20th-century American women artists Women muralists Federal Art Project artists {{US-painter-1900s-stub