Saturday, August 27, 2011

Morning Sun

Another fan sent me some pictures recently and a good story to go with them.
... my wife and I purchased what we thought was a folk art painting from an antique store (somewhere on the San Francisco peninsula, I seem to recall). One house move later and the painting got stacked behind some other picture frames. I just ran across it today and noticed it was signed. I decided to Google the artist's name. Back of the painting also has a printed form that reads:

RUTH DICKER
“Morning Sun”, 19?? (date is not legible)
12”x12”
hand print/mixed media
Here are the pictures:



A very nice piece. A hand print means Dicker constructed the three dimensional trees and then before or after painting them, she printed the designs onto other pieces of wood or paper. This particular design actually looked pretty familiar to me, so I went digging into my photos. Here are The Walnut Tree #3 and The Walnut Tree #4 from 1992:


There is a chance that Morning Sun and The Walnut Tree #3 are actually the same painting, or they are just very similar prints. I think I have even seen more versions of this particular painting, but I will have to search around for them. The torn label on Morning Sun is also likely read 1992.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Bird Love

Good find by a fan at a Bay Area Goodwill. I don't remember seeing this in slides before but it is similar to other bird paintings from the 1960s, such as Golden Pheasant, from 1962.

Here is Bird Love, from 1965:




Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Looking for more Photos

With everything that is out there on the Internet, sometimes I am surprised by what I can't find. I have been looking for pictures of Ruth Dicker paintings handing in The Nut Tree and The Coffee Tree dining rooms. I have found one each inside The Nut Tree and The Coffee Tree, but I am sure there are more out there.

I recently discovered a book called, The Nut Tree Remembered: The Cook Book. I am going to try to get a copy of it and perhaps it will have some Ruth Dicker paintings hiding in it.

There used to be a government database listing of a Ruth Dicker painting handing in a federal building in Texas, but I can't find that link any more.

If you have picture of Ruth Dicker paintings from shows or galleries or hanging in public places, please send them to me.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Edge of October

It looks like a 1964 Ruth Dicker painting was on ebay recently. I can't tell exactly when it was for sale, but the auction appears to have ended. It is titled Edge of October.

It appears extremely similar to this painting from 1964.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Thomas Middleton, “Trollop, With Interior Background"

I posted this painting a little while back and now it has appeared on ebay. Happy Bidding.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Autumn Leaves from 1968

The owner of this painting contacted me to find out more about Ruth Dicker and her paintings. It it called Autumn Leaves and it was painted and sold in 1968. It is 72" x 72". My notes indicate that it was part of a program called Art to Industry, but I don't know anything more about it.