{{Short description|American art historian (1931–2024)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox academic | name = Ruth Butler | birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|10|07}} | birth_place = Buffalo, New York, U.S. | education = Western Reserve University<br>Cleveland Institute of Art<br>New York University Institute of Fine Arts | discipline = Art history | workplaces = University of Maryland, College Park<br>University of Massachusetts Boston | spouse = {{marriage|Carl Kaysen|1994|2010|end=d}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|11|28|1931|10|07}} | death_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | doctoral_advisor = H. W. Janson }}
'''Ruth Butler''' (October 7, 1931 – November 28, 2024) was an American art historian and academic who specialized in 19th-century French sculpture and the roles of artists' models and collaborators. She taught at the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Massachusetts Boston, and authored works on Auguste Rodin and the lives of women associated with artists of the era.
== Early life and education == Butler was born on October 7, 1931, in Buffalo, New York, to Hermine Hansen and George Butler.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Penelope |date=December 27, 2024 |title=Ruth Butler, Who Brought Artists' Muses to Life, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/arts/ruth-butler-dead.html |access-date=December 30, 2024 |work=New York Times |archive-date=December 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241230060030/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/arts/ruth-butler-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She grew up in Buffalo, starting art lessons at age five, and later in Decatur, Illinois. Her father worked as a purchasing agent for an automobile parts manufacturer and also made yard signs and other objects at home.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Lauria |first=Andria |date=July 18, 2012 |title=Ruth Butler |url=https://bostonathenaeum.org/news/ruth-butler/ |access-date=January 2, 2025 |publisher=Boston Athenaeum |language=en-US |archive-date=January 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250102110937/https://bostonathenaeum.org/news/ruth-butler/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Butler earned a B.A. in 1953 from Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art.<ref name=":0" /> She also worked part-time at the institute.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: Ruth Butler Research Collection {{!}} Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives |url=https://pmalibrary.libraryhost.com/repositories/3/resources/338 |access-date=January 2, 2025 |website=pmalibrary.libraryhost.com |archive-date=January 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250102110937/https://pmalibrary.libraryhost.com/repositories/3/resources/338 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> She then attended the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, where she studied under H. W. Janson, who encouraged her to pursue studies in 19th-century sculpture. In 1957, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Paris, conducting research on Auguste Rodin's early works and their relationship to earlier sculptors. She completed her doctorate in 1966.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=Writers Directory 2005: Butler, Ruth (Ann) |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/butler-ruth-ann |access-date=December 30, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia.com |archive-date=December 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241230060030/https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/butler-ruth-ann |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Career == Butler began her academic career as an assistant professor of art history at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1969 to 1972.<ref name=":1" /> She later joined the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she served as associate professor starting in 1973 and chaired the art department from 1976 to 1980. She retired in 1992 as professor emerita.<ref name=":1" />
Her research primarily centered on 19th-century French sculpture. Butler was the author, co-author and editor of a number of books and catalogues including ''Western Sculpture: Definitions of man'' (1975), ''Rodin in perspective'' (1980), ''Rodin’s monument to Victor Hugo'' (1988) and ''European sculpture of the nineteenth century'' (2000).<ref name=":2" /> In 1985, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ruth Butler |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/ruth-butler/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |archive-date=January 11, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111231854/https://www.gf.org/fellows/ruth-butler/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She is best known for her 1993 publication ''Rodin: The Shape of Genius'', a biography of Auguste Rodin that incorporated extensive archival research from the Musée Rodin. The book examined the sculptor's career and his broader historical and cultural context.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> It was a finalist in the biography section of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 1994, and a winner of the George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award of the same year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Los Angeles Times Book Prize {{!}} Awards and Honors |url=https://www.librarything.com/award/283/Los-Angeles-Times-Book-Prize |access-date=January 2, 2025 |publisher=LibraryThing |language=en |archive-date=January 11, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111230854/https://www.librarything.com/award/283/Los-Angeles-Times-Book-Prize |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award {{!}} Awards and Honors {{!}} LibraryThing |url=https://www.librarything.com/award/4221/George-Wittenborn-Memorial-Book-Award |access-date=January 2, 2025 |publisher=LibraryThing |language=en |archive-date=January 11, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250111234534/https://www.librarything.com/award/4221/George-Wittenborn-Memorial-Book-Award |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2008, Butler published ''Hidden in the Shadow of the Master: The Model-Wives of Cézanne, Monet, and Rodin''. This work focused on the lives of Marie-Hortense Fiquet, Camille Doncieux, and Rose Beuret, examining their relationships with Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Rodin, respectively. The book explored their roles as models and collaborators.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cohen |first=Patricia |date=September 3, 2008 |title=Author Gives Voice to Artists' Silent Muses, Their Wives |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/books/04butler.html |access-date=December 30, 2024 |work=New York Times |archive-date=December 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241230060030/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/books/04butler.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Yeazell |first=Ruth Bernard |date=October 23, 2008 |title=Sit like an Apple |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n20/ruth-bernard-yeazell/sit-like-an-apple |access-date=January 2, 2025 |work=London Review of Books |language=en |volume=30 |issue=20 |issn=0260-9592 |archive-date=January 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250102112439/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n20/ruth-bernard-yeazell/sit-like-an-apple |url-status=live }}</ref>
After retiring, Butler created a scholarship fund at the University of Massachusetts Boston to support art students studying abroad.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Boston |first=UMass |title=Scholarships |url=https://www.umb.edu/liberal-arts/academic-departments/art/student-resources/scholarships/ |access-date=January 2, 2025 |publisher=UMass Boston |language=en |archive-date=December 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231125337/https://www.umb.edu/liberal-arts/academic-departments/art/student-resources/scholarships/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Personal life == Butler's first marriage, to biologist Maurizio Mirolli, ended in divorce. In 1994, she married Carl Kaysen, an economist and former deputy national security adviser who died in 2010.<ref name=":0" />
Butler died on November 28, 2024, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a short illness.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Ruth}} Category:1931 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century American women academics Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American women academics Category:21st-century American academics Category:American women art historians Category:American art historians Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni Category:Cleveland Institute of Art alumni Category:New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni Category:People from Buffalo, New York Category:People from Decatur, Illinois Category:University of Maryland, College Park faculty Category:University of Massachusetts Boston faculty