Margery Austin Ryerson (1886-1989)
"Andante"
1935
Etching on paper
8"x11" gold period frame 13 3/4"x17"
Signed in pencil lower right. Certificate attached from Associated American Artists, Inc.
Very Good Condition - Minor wear consistent with age and history. Light water stain lower right corner over signature.
Margery Ryerson born in Morristown, New Jersey in 1886, Margery Ryerson received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in English from Vassar College in 1909. She continued her studies as a pupil of Charles Hawthorne at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown MA and with Robert Henri at the Art Students League in New York.
Noted for her portraits of children, Ryerson also excelled as an oil painter. For a twenty-year period (c.1920-40) Miss Ryerson taught art in New York settlement houses in exchange for the privilege of painting and drawing the children in their care. It was during this period that the artist created what many scholars regard as her greatest achievement, a series of paintings and fine prints depicting children of the underclass and immigrants with respect and sensitivity. The United Nations Children’s Fund has used her images on greeting cards and stamps. Her works were included in exhibitions worldwide, including the Paris Salon, 1921, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922. During her lifetime she was represented by Chapellier, Macbeth and Grand Central Art Galleries in New York. She also was a member of the National Academy of Design. (info fr James Cox Gallery)
