Ruth Salter Wainwright (1902–1984), was a Canadian painter known for her pioneering of the ''Maritime Modernist'' movement.

Biography

Ruth Salter Wainwright was born in 1902 in Nova Scotia. From 1917 to 1921 she studied at the Halifax Ladies' College where she received her teaching certificate. Lewis and Edith Smith were among her teachers. She also studied with the British artists

Elizabeth Styring Nutt Elizabeth Styring Nutt (1870 – 1946), was an artist and educator, known for her leadership of the Nova Scotia College of Art in Halifax. Biography Elizabeth Styring Nutt was born on the Isle of Man in 1870. Following the death of her fathe ...

and

Stanley Royle Stanley Royle RBA, (1888–1961) was an English post-impressionist landscape painter and illustrator who lived for most of his life in and around Sheffield (England), and in Canada, and was inspired by views of landscape, sea and snow. Early ...

who had emigrated to the

Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

. As well as her interest in the visual arts, Wainwright pursued her interest in music, graduating from the

Halifax Conservatory of Music The Halifax Conservatory of Music (HCM) was a Canadian music conservatory in Halifax, Nova Scotia that offered courses in higher education in music during the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. In 1954 the HCM merged with the M ...

in 1924. In the 1930s, she exhibited her work with the

Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour The Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (in French: La Société Canadienne de Peintres en Aquarelle), founded in 1925 is considered to be Canada's official national watercolour Society. Since the 1980s the Society has enjoyed Vice-regal ...

and the Nova Scotia Society of Artists (NSSA). In the 1940s, Wainwright served as the treasurer and on the executive council of the NSSA. During the same period she played harp with a

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

orchestra located in Halifax. In the 1950s, she offered painting classes and mentor to several younger female artists in Halifax including Aileen Maegher and

Carol Hoorn Fraser Carol Hoorn Fraser (1930–1991) was an American-born figurative artist who worked for thirty years in Nova Scotia, Canada. Biography Carol Hoorn Fraser was born on September 5, 1930, in Depression-era Superior, Wisconsin. Her father, Arvid Ho ...

. Wainwright furthered her art career by attending the

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

School of Fine Art, Summer Sessions in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She attended in the summer of 1953 and 1955. From this experience Wainwright moved away from realism and towards a style related to Abstract Expressionism. She continued exhibiting into her eighties and her work has been included in the collection of the

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...

and the National Gallery of Canada. Wainwright died in 1984 in Nova Scotia.

References

External links

Ruth Salter Wainwright images
on AskArt {{DEFAULTSORT:Salter Wainwright, Ruth 1902 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Canadian women artists 20th-century Canadian artists Artists from Nova Scotia Canadian women painters 20th-century Canadian painters 20th-century women painters