The Cincinnati Nature Center is offering an immersive way to enjoy the art of late local wildlife painter and conservationist John A. Ruthven.
Through Nov. 14, the center will be displaying prints from the artist for the “John A. Ruthven Tribute on the Trails.”
The nature center says the artworks were picked and placed along the trail to correspond with the flora and fauna of each area where they are on display. Hikers can download a map on the Cincinnati Nature Center Mobile Guide to find each print.
The center’s Rowe Visitor Center will also have educational resources and some original Ruthven works on exhibit.
“The Nature Center was such a special place to him,” said Matt Weissman, Ruthven’s grandson, in a release. “It was one of his favorite organizations, and I couldn’t think of a better way to honor him.”
Weissman helped organize the exhibit for his grandfather, who was a supporter of many nonprofits in Cincinnati, including the Cincinnati Nature Center. Ruthven’s friends also recently donated a gazebo, constructed near the center’s Powel Crosley Lake, in honor of him and his wife, Judy.
Ruthven was nicknamed the “20th-century Audubon” — after legendary ornithologist and painter John James Audubon — and was renowned for his naturalist works.
Ruthven grew up in Walnut Hills and attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati after serving in World War II, according to his website. He then went on to open a commercial art studio in the 1940s, with a focus on wildlife art. He won a stamp contest in 1960 for his Redhead Ducks artwork and then began distributing his wildlife and duck prints in the 1970s, going on to greater acclaim for his naturalist creations. His paintings have been displayed in exhibitions across America and are in the collections of the Cincinnati Museum Center and Smithsonian Institution’s Preservation and Research Center, among others.
His website says that in 2004 he won the National Medal of Arts “for his impeccably accurate and unfailingly beautiful wildlife art, and in recognition of his contributions as an artist and naturalist to conserving our natural treasures.”
In 2013, local nonprofit ArtWorks partnered with Ruthven to create a mural of his painting depicting Martha, the world’s last passenger pigeon, who died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. (Watch a time-lapse of the mural creation below.)
Ruthven passed away in October 2020 at the age of 95.
The Cincinnati Nature Center is located at 4949 Tealtown Road, Milford. Admission is $9 for adults, $6 for seniors and active military and $4 for children 4-12. Memberships are available. More info: cincynature.org.
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This article appears in Aug 18-31, 2021.
