Watercolor on paper

Blue and green-toned abstract impressionist painting by Texas artist Emily Rutland. This painting depicts a forest scene with trees and a river. Rutland's impeccable brushstrokes and color choices make this painting special and distinctly Southern. Initialed and dated at the lower right. Framed and matted in a modern black frame.

Emily Edith Schwarz Rutland was born on July 5, 1890, in Lee County and reared on farms in Coryell and Nueces counties, in the Petronila area, and in Kingsville, Texas. From 1927-28, she attended the San Antonio Art School and received formal training with Xavier Gonzales. Additionally, she had several short periods of formal training under Cyril Kay-Scott, Frederick Taubes, and Donald Pierce in summer workshops in Corpus Christi; she received informal advice from Lenora McNess Smith. Later she went to classes at Texas A&I, now Texas A&M University-Kingsville. She married J. B. Rutland, a farmer in the Robstown area. Rutland was a founding member of the South Texas Art League and taught watercolor to many area artists. She worked in a variety of media including watercolors, charcoal, pastel sketches, pen and ink, lithographs, prints, and portfolios. As a painter and printmaker, Rutland is best known for her depictions of farm animals which were often dark and moody, and landscape paintings. Rutland painted occasionally in Mexico and Colorado but specialized in works depicting genre scenes (particularly mules and horses) on her farm near Robstown in Nueces County. She moved in the 1970s from her farm to nearby Kingsville where she died in 1983. She was buried in Robstown. Throughout her career, Rutland widely exhibited, including Highland Park Exhibit of Dallas, Issac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans (1935 and 1937 one-woman); Texas Centennial Exhibition, Dallas (1936); Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition (1944-46, 1947 prize) and many more. Rutland’s artwork can be found in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; San Antonio Art League Museum, San Antonio, TX; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX; Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, TX; The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; U.S. Information Service, Washington, D.C.; Texas A&M University—Kingsville, TX; and many more.

H 29 in. x W 22.50 in. x D 1.25 in.