John A. Ruthven

This article is about the American painter. For the Scottish nobleman, see John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie.

Ruthven receiving the 2004 National Medal of Arts

John Aldrich Ruthven (born November 12, 1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist best known for his paintings of wildlife.

After serving in the U.S. military in World War II, Ruthven opened a commercial art studio in Cincinnati. His work for clients included the Play-Doh Boy, used in that product's original 1950s advertising. Ruthven's focus, however, was on wildlife painting in the style of John James Audubon. In 1960, his painting "Redhead Ducks" won the Federal Duck Stamp competition.

Ruthven's wildlife paintings are on display at many museums including the Smithsonian Institution, and his work was featured in a 1994 retrospective at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. He designed two pigs for Cincinnati's Big Pig Gig in 2000. Other artwork include a passenger pigeon mural on the wall of a six-story building in Cincinnati which can be seen in the 2014 documentary From Billions To None by David Mrazek and Joel Greenberg.

Ruthven was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2004. He now lives on a farm near Georgetown, Ohio.

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