Dorothy Rutka
(Grand Rivers, Michigan, 1907 - 1985, Cleveland, Ohio)
North America, American
The artist was a participant in the regional Works Project Administration/Federal Art Project based in Cleveland.
Rutka graduated from the Cleveland School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) in 1929 with a specialization in portraiture. In 1936 she became part of the vibrant group of artists working in a graphic arts workshop in Cleveland sponsored by the Works Progress Administration, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's social programs aimed at helping the US recover from the Great Depression. Rutka is best known for her prints of strikers, struggling families, and busy urban dwellers. She exhibited frequently at the Cleveland Museum of Art and also in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.