About the artist:

Ruth Eckstein was a prize-winning abstract painter and printmaker of national and international acclaim. Her work is represented in over 60 prestigious public collections. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston owns over a dozen and a half of her prints, and other museums own numerous works of hers. Her work is in collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the New York Public Library in New York; the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, the Boston Public Library, the Worcester Art Museum, and the Danforth Museum in the Boston area; and the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of American Art, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Her work is also in collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walter Art Center in Minneapolis, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Wadsworth Athenaeu in Hartford, and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven. Reflecting her international preeminence, her artwork is in collections of the Biblioteca, Galleria D’Arte Moderne in Rome, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, the City of Nurnberg, and the British Museum. In addition, over 90 internationally prominent corporations have acquired her artwork, including AT&T, Bank of Tokyo, Dresden Bank, Exxon-Mobil, Freeport McMoran, General Electric, General Motors, IBM, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., the Rockefeller Center Corp, L.F. Rothschild & Co. Saks Fifth Avenue, Singer Co., Smith Barney, and Unisys. Eckstein’s work has appeared in many exhibits. She had some three dozen individual shows. She also participated in over one hundred group shows. While most of the shows were in the U.S., she also had several exhibits in Germany, as well as in France and Peru. Ruth Eckstein was born in Nuremberg, Germany. She moved to Paris with her future husband in 1934, and then to America in 1939. She first studied painting in Paris, and, subsequently, at the Museum of Modern Art and the New School for Social Research with Stuart Davis. Encouraged by Harry Sternberg, enthusiastic about her talent, she immersed herself in printmaking techniques, as well as painting and drawing. She studied with Julian Levi and V. Vytlacil, along with Sternberg, at the Art Students League in New York. Later, intrigued by the woodcut technique of printmaker Seong Moy, Eckstein studied with him at the Pratt Graphic Art Center, where she also studied etching techniques with Roberto DeLamonica. Her work evolved through her printmaking and related painting and collage work to achieve a majestic tranquility through pared down compositions and subtle modulations of color and shape. Inspired by her travels to South and Central America, the American Southwest, Asia, North Africa, and Europe, her work embodies an almost oriental serenity of space. In many of her works landscape is suggested by simple abstractions of form and gentle color harmonies. In others, tilted geometric designs, with clear bold colors, provoke a tension between balance and motion. In the words of an art analyst, “Her manipulation of space, creating an illusion of depth by layering flat planes of color and texture, is especially pronounced in her prints and collages. It is in these media that she learned to develop edges that not only soften the geometry of her forms but also—through the simple expediency of tearing instead of cutting the edge of a piece of paper—introduce an organic quality into her compositions and enhance the development of space.” And in the words of a curator at a museum that acquired approximately half a dozen of Eckstein’s works, “Eckstein was a printmaker’s printmaker who experimented with a variety of methods and combined those methods freely. Her dedication to printmaking was such that she bought her own press, essentially building her house around it.” Eckstein received many awards for her work. They include multiple awards from Audubon Artists in New York, the Silvermine Guild in New Canaan, Connecticut, Hofstra University, the Village Art Center in New York, and the Long Island Art Festival. Select Individual Exhibitions 2010 Laselle Village, Newton, Massachusetts 2007 Brennan Library, Lasell College, Newton, Massachusetts 2004 Yamawaki Art Center, Lasell College, Newton, Massachusetts 2004 Kantar Fine Arts, Newton, Massachusetts 2004 Great Neck Arts Center, Great Neck, New York, “Two Friends,” with Esphyr Slobodkina 2003 Center for Research, Lasell College, Newton, Massachusetts 2000 Great Neck Arts Center, Great Neck, New York “Lines of Communication” 1998/99Heckscher Museum, Bryant Library, Roslyn, New York “On Reflection” 1997 Great Neck Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, Great Neck, New York 1996 Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York ”Retrospective” 1994 Suzuki Gallery, New York, New York “Mostly Collages” 1993 Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York “Spatial Concerns” 1991 Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York “Abstraction Hot and Cool” 1988 Great Neck Library, Great Neck, New York 1987 Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York 1986 Gallery 169, Great Neck, New York 1986 Saint Peter’s Church, New York, New York 1985 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, New York 1985 Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York 1984 Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, Connecticut 1984 Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York 1983 Plandome Gallery, Plandome, New York 1982 Brentano’s Gallery, Manhasset, New York 1982 Honey Sharp Gallery, Lenox, Massachusetts 1982 Artists’ Proof, East Hampton, New York 1981 Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York 1980 Galeria de Arte 9, Lima, Peru 1980 Adelphi University, Garden City, New York 1980 Galerie Sulzbeck, Erlangen, Germany 1979 Gallery of Graphic Arts, New York, New York 1978 Port Washington Library Gallery, Port Washington, New York 1977 Alonzo Gallery, New York, New York 1976 Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York 1976 Port Washington Library Gallery, Port Washington, New York 1975/76Kunsthalle, Nuremberg, Germany 1975 Alonzo Gallery, New York, New York Select Awards 1985 John Taylor Arms Award, Audobon Artists, New York, New York 1983 Fairfield Award, Art of Northeast USA, Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, Connecticut 1978 Edna P. Stauffer Award, Audobon Artists, New York, New York 1976 James R. Marsh Award, Audobon Artists, New York, New York 1973 Purchase Awards, Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York 1965 Grand Prize and First Prize in Graphics, Long Island Art Festival ‘65 1964 Honorable Mention, Audubon Artists, New York City, New York 1963 First Prize, Village Art Center, New York City, New York 1961 First Prize and Purchase Award, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York Public Collections *Art in Embassies Collection, U.S. State Department, Washington, D.C. *Biblioteca, Galleria D’Arte Moderne, Rome, Italy *Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts *British Museum, London. England *Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York *Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio City of Nurnberg, Nurnberg, Germany “International Contemporary Art” *City University of New York, New York, New York Civic Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine *Columbia University, New York, New York *CUNY Graduate Center Art Gallery, New York, New York CUNY, Kingsborough College, Brooklyn, New York *Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts (plus 3 additional works) Danforth Museum, Framingham, Massachusetts (7 works) Everson Museum, Syracuse, New York *Fogg Art Museum,/Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2) *Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia *Guggenheim Museum New York, New York Heckscher Museum, of Art, Huntington, New York Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York *Houston Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas *Interlochen Art Academy, Michigan *Kean College of New Jersey, Union, New Jersey *La Jolla Museum, La Jolla, California Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania *Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. *Metropolitan Museum, New York, New York Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana *Muhlenberg College, Frank Martin Gallery, Allentown, Pennsylvania *Mulvane Museum of Art, Topeka, Kansas M useum of Fine Arts, Boston—19 prints (plus 1 print in the American Abstract Artists 50th Anniversary Print Portfolio*) *Museum of Modern Art, Print Collection, New York, New York *Muscarelle Art Museum, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia *Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York *National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. *Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri *Neuberger Museum, SUNY/Purchase, New York *New Jersey State Council of the Arts, New Jersey New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey New York Public Library, New York, New York (2 works) *Newark Public Library, New Jersey Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2) *Princeton University Library, Rare Books Collection, Princeton, New Jersey *San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California Smithsonian American Art Museum *Snite Art Museum, University of Notre Dame, Indiana *Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts *University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor Michigan University of Richmond, Print Study Center, Virginia *Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, Connecticut *Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota *Whitney Museum of American Art Study Collection, New York, New York *Wichita State University, Edwin A. Ulrich Museum, Wichita, Kansas *Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts *Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut *American Abstract Artists 50th Anniversary Print Portfolio Selected Group Exhibitions 2013 "American Abstract Artists International—75th Anniversary," Paris 2012 ParisCONCRET Gallery, Paris 2011 Deutscher Kunstlerbund, Berlin. 2011 Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York “Splendor of Dynamic Structure” 2010 Museum of the Aragonese, Otranto, Italy 2008 The Painting Center, New York, New York 2007 St. Peter’s College, Jersey City, New Jersey 2006 Colby College, Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York Wittarnett Print Study Center, University of Richmond, Virginia 2004 Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey “American Abstract Artists Sixtieth Anniversary Portfolio” H. Brenner, Judische Franen in dar bildenden Kunst II 2001 Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania “Abstract Dilemmas” 2000 Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York “Different Directions” A.I.R. Gallery, New York, New York “Generations II” Long Island University, Brookville, New York 1999 Prince Street Gallery, New York, New York (SAGA) 1998 Discovery Art Gallery, Sea Cliff, New York “Unexpected Pleasures” 1997 Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York “The Long Island Juried Exhibition” Lower Manhattan Cultural Council at Federal Reserve Bank Headquarters, New York, New York SAGA National Print Exhibition, Nabisco Headquarters, East Hanover, New Jersey Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York “Works by Gallery Artists” Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York “Twenty-Eight Long Island Artists: Recent Work” 1996 Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York “The Circle: Symbol of the Psyche” Nese Alpan Gallery, Roslyn, New York “Geometry versus Gesture” Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, CUNY, New York, New York Art Institute for the Permian Basin, Odessa, Texas “Print Types” 1995 National Print Biennial, Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, Connecticut James Howe Gallery, Kean College of New Jersey, Union, New Jersey Westbeth Gallery, New York, New York Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa “Women Printmakers” 1994/95 Suzuki Gallery, New York, New York 1994 Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas “Print Types” Central College, Chadron, Nebraska Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York “Twelfth Anniversary Exhibition” American Abstract Artists, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, New Jersey “The Persistence of Abstraction” Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri “American Abstract Artists and Related Prints” Nassau County Community College, Garden City, New York “Drawn Conclusions” Fort Collins, Colorado “Women Printmakers” South West Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas “Selections from the National Drawing Association” 1993 Shelter Rock Art Gallery, Manhasset, New York “Retrospective” Suzuki Gallery, New York, New York 1992 Muhlenberg College Gallery, Allentown, Pennsylvania “American Abstract Artists Fifth Anniversary Print Portfolio” Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, New York “The Prevailing Fifties” Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York “Less is More” Edwin Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas “The Persistence of Abstraction” Silvermine Guild Galleries, New Canaan, Connecticut “Seventieth Anniversary Celebration” 1991 Suzuki Gallery, New York, New York “Abstract and Non-Objective Art” Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York—Juried Print Exhibition Andre Zarre Gallery, New York, New York “Confluences” 1988/92“A Living Tradition—Selections from the American Abstract Artists” Traveling Exhibition Organized by the United States Information Agency and Bronx Museum of the Arts: Finland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Israel, Yugoslavia, Germany, Poland, USSR, Malta, and Canada 1990 Midge Karr Art Center of New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York “The Larger Print” Martin Museum, Baylor University, Waco, Texas “American Print Survey” 1989/90American Abstract Artists Exhibition, New York, New York “55 Mercer Artists” 1989 Neuberger Museum at SUNY, Purchase, New York “Geometric Abstraction and the Modern Spirit” 1988 Discovery Gallery, Glen Cove, New York “Special Guest” Bentson Gallery, Southampton, New York Third Annual Invitational Exhibition “Silvermine Collection” Pitney Bowes World Headquarters, Stamford, Connecticut 1987 Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, Connecticut “Art of Northeast USA” City Gallery, New York, New York “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” Condeso Lawler, New York, New York “American Abstract Artists Fifth Anniversary Print Portfolio” Kean College, Union, New Jersey, “American Abstract Artists Fiftieth Anniversary Print Portfolio” New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey “American Abstract Artists Fiftieth Anniversary Print Portfolio” Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, New York “Works on Paper by Gallery Artists” Pitney Bowes World Headquarters, Stamford, Connecticut “Silvermine Collection” 1984 Lever House Gallery, New York, New York “Audubon Artists Prizewinners” American Abstract Artists, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York “50th Anniversary Celebration” Midge Carr Gallery, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York “Outsized Graphics” Central Hall Gallery, New York, New York “Invitational Show” Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, New York “A Show of Paper Works” 1983 The First Women’s Bank, New York, New York “Diversity” Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, Connecticut “National Print Show” Silvermine Guild New Canaan, Connecticut “Art of Northeast USA” 1982 City Gallery, New York, New York “Abstraction in Action,” American Abstract Artists Exhibition 1981 New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, Summit, New Jersey “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” 1980 Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, Connecticut “National Print Show” Payson/Weisberg Gallery, New York, New York Sid Deutsch Gallery, New York, New York “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia 1979 Widener College, Chester, Pennsylvania Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, New York “The Language of Abstraction, American Abstract Artists Exhibition” Silvermine Guild, New Canaan, Connecticut “National Print Show” 1978 Iowa University Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa “Members’ Purchase Exhibition” San Antonio Museum, San Antonio, Texas “Collectors’ Show” Royal Academy, Stockholm, Sweden 1977 Haus Dornbusch, Frankfurt, Germany University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, American Abstract Artists Exhibition William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” Dubins Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1976 Amos Carter Museum, Forth Worth, Texas Westbeth Gallery, New York, New York “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” 1974 Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia 1973 National Arts Club, New York, New York 1972 Loeb Student Center, New York University, New York, New York “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” Farleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, Summit, New Jersey 1971 University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 1970 Loeb Student Center, New York University, New York, New York “American Abstract Artists Exhibition” Bibliography 2004 Brenner, Judische Frauen in dar Bildenden Kunst II 2003 “Abstract Dilemmas” Marin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College Catalog (illustrated) 2000 Printworld International 9th edition 1999 J.M. Welker, Ruth Eckstein, The Way, 48pp. Monograph (illustrated) 1998 Phyllis Braff, The New York Times (illustrated) American Abstract Artists 60th Anniversary Print Portfolio (illustrated) 1997 American Abstract Artists Journal, vol. 2 (illustrated) 1996 “Pioneers of Abstract Art 1936-1996,” Baruch College, CUNY Catalog (illustrated) American Abstract Artists 60th Anniversary Exhibition at Kean College, Union, New Jersey Catalog (illustrated) 1992 Persistence of Abstraction Catalog (illustrated) Edwin A. Ulrich Museum, Wichita, Kansas 1991 Phyllis Braff, The New York Times (illustrated) 1990 Karin Lipson, Newsday Helen A. Harrison, The New York Times (illustrated) 1988 “A Living Tradition Catalog,” Bronx Museum of the Arts/A Cultural Presentation of the United States of America /(illustrated) 1987 Matt Damsker, Hartford Courant Franz Geierhaas, Journal of the Print World American Abstract Artists 50th Anniversary Print Portfolio (illustrated); also catalog published by James Howe Gallery, Keen College, Union, New Jersey (illustrated) Karin Lipson, Newsday 1985 Phyllis Braff, The New York Times John and Joan Digby, The Collage Handbook (Thames & Hudson) 1984 Carreta, Lima, Peru Helen A. Harrison, The New York Times Joshua Teplow, Artspeak 1983 Malcolm Preston, Newsday Phyllis Braff, The New York Times Personnagi Contemporanei, Academia delle Arti, Italy 1982 Malcolm Preston, Newsday Printworld Director of Contemporary Prints and Prices 1980 Helen A. Harrison, The New York Times 1979 “The Language of Abstraction” Catalog, American Abstract Artists (illustrated) 1978 Video Interview by Art Advisory Council, Port Washington Library, Port Washington, New York Judith Helfer, Aufbau Jeanne Paris, Newsday 1977 Charles Z. Offin, Pictures on Exhibit Holland Cotter, New York Arts Journal (illustrated) Abraham Illein, Westsider Jeanne Paris, Newsday Artes Visuales, Mexico, D.F. (illustrated) 1974 Jeanne Paris, Long Island Press Linda Weintraub, The Morning Call W. F., Nurnberg Nachrichten --wie--, Abendzeitung 1972 Andrea Mikotajuk, Arts Magazine Michael Benedikt, Art News (also Editor’s Letter) Felice T. Ross, Pictures on Exhibit Betty Chamberlain, Lincoln Center Marquee Gerrit Henry, Art International g-w, Stuttgarter Zeitung a-z, Stuttgarter Nachrichten 1971 The Cape Codder 1970 Gordon Brown, Arts Magazine E. McGraw, Park East Claire Nicholas White, Art News 1969 Jacqueline Barnitz, Art Magazine 1968 John Perreault, Art News Jeanne Siegel, Arts Magazine Michael Berry, Aufbau 1966 American Abstract Artists 1936-66 (illustrated) Bernard Wagner, Newsday 1964 Prizewinning Graphics, Book II, Allied Publications Who’s Who in America Who’s Who in American Art