Ruth Wall (1917 – 2009)

Ruth A. Wall was born in Wyoming in 1917 and moved to a homestead on an Indian reservation in Utah as a child. After graduating from high school at age 16, she left home to attend college. She graduated from college at age 20 and began teaching high school at age 21.

In her early 20’s Ruth Wall moved to Los Angeles. She became an Army materials inspector during WWII.  During the war, she moved to Northern California and became a pilot, and entered the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).  In addition to becoming a pilot, she trained as a physical therapist and became an officer.  She remained in the WAC until 1949.

In 1950 Ruth Wall entered the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (CSFA), later to become the San Francisco Art Institute.  She studied at CSFA until leaving for France in 1952.  Most of Ruth Wall’s work in printmaking was done in 1952, before leaving for France.  Ruth’s lithographs were mostly gestural abstract expressionist works done on the press at CSFA at night after everyone had gone home.

While living and studying in France, she moved into the Academie Frochot in Paris.  In Paris, Wall actively exhibited her work at galleries including Galerie Huit, 9e Salon des Realities Nouvelles and Exposition Hotel Drouot.

Returning to the CSFA in 1955, she worked as an artist until she had to take a side job to make a living in 1957.  Her teachers at the California School of Fine Arts included David Park, Elmer Bischoff, Edward Corbett, Hassel Smith, James Budd Dixon, Robert McChesney, and Nate Oliviera and fellow students included James Kelly, Deborah Remington, James Wasserstein, and Sonia Gechtoff.

Exhibitions
1968  Terra Linda Art Fair, CA
1967  Terra Linda Art Fair, CA
1967  Wildwood Gallery, OR
1961  Green Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1961  Group show at Green Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1958  L’Envoi Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1957  Beniof, San Francisco, CA
1956  Gallery 6, San Francisco, CA
1956  East West Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1956  Selected works, San Mateo, CA
1956  Student exhibition at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1956  Student exhibition at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1955  Select works at Saks Fifth Avenue, San Francisco, CA
1955  Student exhibition at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1955  Artists Cooperative, San Francisco, CA
1954  Gallery Huit, Paris
1954  Exposition Hotel Drouot, Paris
1954  9e Salon des Realites Nouvelles, Paris
1952  Student exhibition at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1952  Group exhibition at California State University, Chico, CA
1951  Select prints at 12th Adler Place, San Francisco, CA
1951  Group show at Glendon’s, San Francisco, CA
1951  Student exhibition at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA

Museums
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
San Jose Museum, San Jose, California

Literature
Shields, S., Landauer. S., Carlson, D., et al. “San Francisco, and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection of Bay Area Abstract Expressionism”
Carlevaro, Claire, Art Exchange Gallery. “Ruth A. Wall, Abstract Expressionist Prints, 1952”
www.artnet.com

Sources:
David Carlson, Carlson Gallery, Carmel, CA.
Shields, S., Landauer. S., Carlson, D., et al. “San Francisco, and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection of Bay Area Abstract Expressionism”
askART.com
James Snidle, James Snidle Fine Arts
artnet.com

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