Williams, Robert J. Ruskin, Sarasota, Longboat Key. Storm Approaching Bird Key 1951, watercolor, 15 by 22 inches.
Ruskin Williams and his wife, Troy Morgan founded the Longboat Key Art Center in 1951. Williams moved to Sarasota in 1947 and out to Longboat Key in 1950. He had worked in commercial art in Chicago and New York City for over forty years. Williams painting of a heroic Red Cross nurse was featured by the American Red Cross in their 1939 membership drive. Williams specialized in “glamor girl” paintings which he signed “Russ.” For several years, he created the cover designs for Holiday on Ice. His commissions included work for Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox and Chesterfield Cigarettes. The St. Petersburg Times, November 25, 1966, in a posthumous article noted the work of Williams and Eugene White: “Ruskin Williams, whose award-winning career compares closely to that of White, works with a somewhat more restrained brush but shares White’s fascination with the Florida coast and the sea. His portrait technique is striking too in the examples shown…Williams’ seascapes have a more brooding quality than those of White, calling for a more generous use of darker blues and mauves. Among his output are two delicate watercolors, both landscapes of the Florida shore one of which is noticeably suggestive of Anna Maria Island or Longboat Key itself.” Born:1888, Ottumwa, Iowa. Died: March 19, 1966, Longboat Key, Florida. Education: Art Institute of Chicago; In Europe and Paris for ten years; Academy Juliane. Membership: Guild of Freelance Artists, New York; Art League of Manatee County, 1955-56; Sarasota Art Association; Longboat Key Art Center. Exhibits: National Art Association of America, 1st prize, Art Directors Medal in Black and White, 1918, 1924, honorable mention, 1927; Woodstock Art Association, April 28, 1928; Longboat Key Art Center, February 1953; Longboat Key Art Center, February 5, 1955, paint-off with Marilyn Bendell, Charles McCurry and Troy Morgan; Art League of Manatee County, members exhibit, February 1956, Self Portrait; Longboat Key Art League of Manatee County, Members Exhibit, February 1956; Contemporary Arts Gallery, March 1956, two man exhibit with wife Troy Morgan, including Ruskin’s portrait of Miss Sharon Darcy of Longboat Key and watercolors, Johnson Pier, Spanish Moss; Contemporary Arts Gallery, Pinellas Park, June and September 1958, including watercolors Landscape with Bather, Beach Scene, Moon Rain and Braden River; Longboat Key Art Center, January 1960 with Lily Marx; Craft Village, St. Petersburg, February 1960, 1st prize; Contemporary Arts Gallery, Pinellas Park, October 1961, watercolors of Florida, landscapes and seascapes; Beaux Arts Gallery, Pinellas Park, December 1963. In New York; Chicago, Paris. Many Manatee Art League and Sarasota Art Association exhibits.
