Ellis Ruley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ellis Ruley
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Ellis Ruley sitting with a pipe
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| Born |
Ellis Walter Ruley
December 3, 1882 Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Died | January 16, 1959 (aged 76) Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Nationality | United States |
| Known for | Painter |
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Works
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Adam and Eve Daydreaming Grapefruit Picking Time |
| Spouse(s) | Ida Bee Wilhelmina Fox
(m. 1933–1959) |
Ellis Walter Ruley (born December 3, 1882 – died January 16, 1959) was an American folk artist. He was also a hard worker. He started painting in the 1930s at his home in Norwich, Connecticut. He used house paint on materials like cardboard and Masonite.
During his life, Ruley sold his paintings in his local area. He became famous only after he died, in the 1990s. Ruley worked in construction for most of his adult life. He had one daughter from his first marriage. Ruley died in 1959. People are not sure if he died from an accident or if he was murdered.
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Who Was Ellis Ruley?
Ellis Ruley was born on December 3, 1882. His parents were Joshua Ruley and Eudora Robinson. Ellis was the oldest of their six children. He had four brothers and two sisters.
According to his great-granddaughter, Diane Laiscell, Ellis Ruley did not go to school for very long. He had to start working early to help his family.
His mother, Eudora Robinson, was born in Kingston, Rhode Island. She was of mixed African-American and Native American heritage. His father, Joshua Ruley, was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Some stories say Joshua was a runaway slave who escaped North after the American Civil War. However, Diane Laiscell says that how Joshua came to Norwich is still a mystery.
Ellis Ruley's Adult Life
Ruley worked in construction. You can still find parts of stone walls he built on his old property. He was married two times. His first wife was Ida Bee. She died soon after their daughter, Marion, was born in 1912.
Ruley married his second wife, Wilhelmina Fox, in 1933. This marriage was unusual for the time. Wilhelmina was white and had been married to Ruley's brother, Amos Ruley, before.
In 1933, Ruley bought a house at 20 Hammond Avenue (now 28 Hammond Avenue). He used some of the money he got from a work accident to buy it. He fixed up the old house and made gardens. He grew his own food there. Diane Laiscell remembers him painting the animals and the forest around his home.
By the 1950s, Ruley had retired from work. During this time, he faced problems with neighbors who were not friendly because of his race. Laiscell remembers them bothering her family. When Ruley died on January 16, 1959, many people in the Black community of Norwich felt he had been harmed.
How Did Ellis Ruley Become an Artist?
It is not clear exactly when Ruley started painting because his artworks are not dated. An art collector named Glenn Palmedo-Smith thinks he started around 1939. By 1950, Ruley met Joseph Gualtieri. Gualtieri was the Director of the Slater Memorial Museum.
Gualtieri helped Ruley have his only art show during his lifetime. This show was in December 1952. Ruley also took part in an outdoor art show called "Art in the Open." He would sell his paintings for $15 each. Gualtieri tried to sell Ruley's paintings to art dealers in New York City. He was not successful, but Ruley did not seem too upset by this.
We do not know how many paintings Ruley made. We also do not know how many still exist today. Glenn Palmedo-Smith wrote a book in 1993 called Discovering Ellis Ruley. In it, he listed 62 paintings that were still around. By 2015, this number had grown to 64 paintings.
What Was Ellis Ruley's Art Style Like?
Ruley often painted scenes from everyday life in Norwich. Joseph Gualtieri said that Ruley always used house paint. He painted many different things. He liked to paint wild animals, especially lions. He also painted bathing beauties, peaceful landscapes, cowboys, and Native Americans.
Ruley did not have any special training in painting. Because of this, his art usually has a simple style. Glenn Palmedo-Smith described his work as "otherworldly." He said it was like the images were "captured from dreams." Palmedo-Smith believed that Ruley's art could tell complex stories with simple pictures.
The Mystery of Ellis Ruley's Death
Ellis Ruley was found dead on the morning of January 17, 1959. His body was found on Hammond Avenue, not far from his house. His body was partly frozen. The medical examiner thought Ruley died from being out in the cold. He also had a cut on his head and had lost a lot of blood. The Coroner believed Ruley's death was an accident.
The investigation suggested that the cut on his head happened when he fell and hit a stone wall. People thought he was walking to or from his house.
However, Ruley's family was very suspicious. They believed he might have been murdered. They thought a neighbor might have wanted his property, or that he was killed because of racism. Their suspicions grew because of two other events. Ruley’s son-in-law, Douglas Harris, was found dead in a well on the property in 1948. Authorities said it was an accident. But in 2014, a forensic pathologist named Dr. Michael Baden did an autopsy. He found that Harris's hyoid bone was broken. This suggested it might have been a murder. Also, Ruley’s home was destroyed by an unexplained fire after his death.
How Ellis Ruley's Art Was Rediscovered
In 1984, Glenn Palmedo-Smith found Ruley's painting Adam and Eve. He saw it at an antique market in Brimfield, Massachusetts. He was very impressed by the painting. He felt it was "wonderful, and a little sad, and more than a little mesmerizing." At first, Palmedo-Smith did not know who the artist was. He found out Ruley’s name and story through his research. He went to Norwich, Connecticut, where Mr. Gualtieri identified the painting. Gualtieri told him it used to hang over Ruley’s couch.
After many years of research, Palmedo-Smith wrote the book Discovering Ellis Ruley. This book showed pictures of all the known Ruley artworks. The book was used as the guide for a national tour of Ruley's paintings. The Ford Motor Company and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation helped pay for the tour. The art show started in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1995. It then went to museums in San Diego, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, New York City, and Hartford, Connecticut.
In the 2010s, people became interested in Ruley's art and life again. Wally Lamb, a best-selling author from Norwich, wrote a character like Ellis Ruley in his 2013 book, We are Water.
In September 2015, the City of Norwich created an Ellis Walter Ruley Committee. This committee wanted to honor the local artist. The committee raised money to build a park where Ruley's old home used to be, at 28 Hammond Avenue. The park was opened on July 27, 2018. From September 23 to December 7, 2018, the Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, Connecticut, showed eighteen of Ruley’s paintings.
As of July 2018, Glenn Palmedo-Smith was working on a movie about Ruley's life, art, and death. It is called Unruley. Delois C. Lindsey was also making her own movie based on her book.
