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Louis Ritman was born in Kaments-Podolski, Russia in 1889. In 1903 he immigrated to Chicago and at age seventeen began working to help support his family (Ritman one of six children) by painting letters for a sign company. He was encouraged to enroll in art classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art. After traveling around the United States he traveled to Paris and stayed in France for 20 years. In 1930, he returneed to Chicago and began teaching at The Art Institute of Chicago where he remained until retirement in 1960.

Source: Des Moines Art Center Work of the Month, July 1997


Exhibition History"Louis Ritman Retrospective," Oshkosh Public Museum, WI, Oct. 6 - 31, 1974

"Paintings in the collection of the Des Moines Association of Fine Arts," Des Moines Association of Fine Arts Gallery, Dec. 15, 1939 - Jan. 5, 1940

"Louis Ritman," Minneapoles Institute of Arts, Apr. 1920
Published ReferencesNicole de Fleur, LOUIS RITMAN, AMERICAN PAINTER, The Louis Ritman Estate in association with Times Publishing Company, Random Lake, WI, n. d., color ill. p.2

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.182

INTERNATIONAL STUDIO, Vol. 67, Apr. 1919
DimensionsCanvas: 36 × 36 in. (91.4 × 91.4 cm)
Overall: 41 × 41 in. (104.1 × 104.1 cm)
Accession Number 1924.4
Classificationspainting
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedL. Ritman 1918 (l,r oil paint)
ProvenanceArtist, France; Des Moines Association of Fine Arts [purchased from the artist, 1924]; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 1937]
At the Table (French Girl)
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Louis Ritman
1915
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Louis Valtat
1898
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Louis Fratino
2020
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Morris Louis
1958
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Richard Diebenkorn
1957
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
1912-1914
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Robert Henri
1909
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Louis Stettner
1951, printed later
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Louis Boullogne the elder
date unknown
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Antoine-Louis Barye
1836