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 Administratio ...

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

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

. She is known for her mural at Lincoln Hospital (Bronx, New York), and for teaching mural painting at the Spokane Art Center, 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, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

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

Family

Egri's parents were

Ilona ''Ilona'' is a feminine given name used primarily in Hungary and Finland, as well as in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe. The name Ilona is the Hungarian form of the Greek name Helenē (Ἑλένη), which is commonly interpreted to mean ...

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 play ...

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 Spokane Art Center 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, New Mexico, 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 Santa Fe ...

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 20th-century American painters American muralists American women illustrators 20th-century American illustrators 20th-century American women painters American women muralists Federal Art Project artists {{US-painter-1900s-stub