Flower study

Flower study, a watercolour by Ruth Tuck

Ruth Tuck was born at Cowell on Eyre Peninsula in 1914. She began studying art at the School of Arts and Crafts from the age of 13, taking Saturday morning adult classes. From 1933 she began studying full time: her teachers included Dorrit Black and Ivor Hele. She attended Teacher's College in 1935, and art again part time from 1939-51.

She was a member of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, and with others formed the South Australian branch of the Contemporary Arts Society: she exhibited with both groups from 1942. She married Mervyn Smith in 1943 and under his influence concentrated on flower paintings, portraits and landscapes. Her love of colour and use of form is evident in this work.

She taught art history and lectured in Newcastle and Adelaide from 1952 including work at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts and the Institute of Technology. She was art critic for the Adelaide Advertiser for a number of years from the late 1960s. In 1956 she opened the Ruth Tuck Art School for children, guiding and influencing several generations. Ruth Tuck has held numerous one woman shows and in 1986 a retrospective Five decades of paintings at the Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide. She is represented in the Art Galleries of South Australia and Western Australia, University of Adelaide collection, Manly Art Gallery, NSW and in many private collections.

In 1981 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her services as an artist and teacher. Other awards and recognition followed. Ruth Tuck died in October 2008.

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