Ruth Edith Tuck (22 July 1914 – 10 October 2008) was a modernist painter of South Australia, noted for joint exhibitions with her husband

Mervyn Ashmore Smith Mervyn Ashmore Smith OAM (11 December 1904 – 18 March 1994) was an Australian artist. He was best known for his watercolour landscapes and botanical works. He was born in Sydney, trained as an architect and was for a time town planner for New ...

(11 December 1904 – 18 March 1994), and her influence as a teacher of painting. The Ruth Tuck Art School, founded by her in 1955, continues to operate in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. She was related to the better-known

Marie Tuck Marie Anne Tuck (5 September 1866 – 3 September 1947), was an artist and art educator in South Australia. History Marie Tuck was born at Mount Torrens, South Australia, one of eight children of Edward Starkey Tuck (1827 – 1898) and his wif ...

Early life and education

Ruth Edith Tuck was born on 22 July 1914 at

Cowell, South Australia Cowell is a coastal town on Franklin Harbor on the eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula, in South Australia on the Lincoln Highway 111 km south of the major town of Whyalla. It is 493 km by road from Adelaide. Franklin Harbor is a natu ...

, a daughter of Arthur Edward Tuck (1855 – 8 April 1925) and his wife Minnie, née Wallis.

Career

She studied painting under Dorrit Black and exhibited regularly with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts and was a foundation member of the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museum ...

. She met Mervyn Smith in 1943 and married him on 15 October the same year; they lived in

, then Mervyn moved to

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

in 1949, where he was employed as a County Council planning officer; she joined him few years later. In 1953 they returned to Adelaide, where they remained and held numerous joint exhibitions of their watercolors, both modernist in outlook with Mervyn's work being generally characterised as the more ambitious.

Publications

Her written work includes biographies of Mary Packer Harris and Marie Anne Tuck for the ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

''.

Ruth Tuck Art School

Ruth established the Ruth Tuck Art School in 1955.

Recognition and honours

Tuck was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in 1981 for services to art. The Ruth Tuck Scholarship for Visual Arts was awarded by the state government via Carclew until 2016.

Death and legacy

Tuck died on 10 October 2008. The Ruth Tuck Art School continues to operate, at the Burnside Arts and Crafts Centre, in Hubbe Court, Burnside.

Family

Ruth was a granddaughter of noted Baptist minister Rev. Henry Lewer Tuck (11 September 1820 – 26 August 1880), an early immigrant to South Australia, whose brother Edward Starkey Tuck (13 March 1827 – 9 August 1898) was the father of

(5 September 1866 – 3 September 1947). See her article for more details of the Tuck family in South Australia. Ruth had a son Mark in 1945 and twin daughters Michele and Angela in 1953.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuck, Ruth Australian painters Australian women painters Australian art educators 1914 births 2008 deaths