Did You Know? 

RUTH REED CUMMINGS
March, 1900 – January, 1975

“I just paint, that’s all.  Don’t call me an artist – I’m just a painter.”
                                                                         Ruth Reed Cummings

In the Fingerlakes Region of Central New York, the
Marcellus painter, Ruth Reed Cummings, is remembered
and revered. Her paintings have become highly
collectible and command significant prices.  

Often called the “Grandma Moses” of Marcellus (a title
that embarrassed her), she was a primitive artist in the
true sense of the word. She received no formal art
education.  Childlike in design, her creations remained
true to primitive art’s qualities of simplicity, strong use
of pattern, unrefined color, and uninhibited composition.
Her own particular attention to detail, especially in her nostalgic community scenes, displayed the caring for
and love of the area that was her home.

Born in 1900, at her grandfather’s (Hiram Reed’s) home
in Marcellus, New York, Ruth Daboll Reed descended
from one of the oldest families in the area.

She married Lloyd Cummings and raised three children, Jack, Jane and Duane.  Joining her sister,
Martha Jane (Mrs. Robert Parkinson), in her candy and later antique business, Ruth developed a fine
eye for antique furnishings and costumes. She made sketches of these items, created candy ads, and decorated candy boxes & gift cards, as well.

At the age of 62, Ruth Reed Cummings began to paint in earnest and within less than a decade she
could not keep up with the demand for her work. In total, she sold over 500 paintings, but that number does not represent all that were completed, as many were given as gifts.

 
Relying on childhood memories for inspiration, she painted
still life objects, especially flowers and birds, portraits and
landscapes, although she was never truly satisfied painting
people. Depicting local scenes and landmarks, she was
meticulous in detail, often consulting historical records, as
well as old publications, photos, and prints. In her desire to
create a historical record of the region, she painted landmarks,
buildings and farm scenes both in existence and long gone.
Never at a loss for buyers,

Mrs. Cummings often repeated
a work, thus producing two or
more versions of the same
scene, although she once
confessed, “one never comes
out exactly like the first.” 
Commissions were not her
forte, yet she did many for
personal friends.
 

 
Shortly after Mrs. Cummings began painting in earnest, an article appeared about her in the Syracuse Post Standard. Ruth’s first
major show was held at the Syracuse Gridley Center, Canal
Museum in 1972. After that, her work and persona was the subject
of local TV news spots, national magazine stories, and a national news special on CBS-TV on July 4, 1974. An exhibit of her paintings was held postimously June 20 – July 20, 1975, at Syracuse’s Everson Museum. Much of the information above
comes from a book by her son, Jack Cummings, entitled The
Primitive Paintings of Ruth Reed Cummings, 1975, Visual Artist
Publications, USA, and material written by newspaper man
Richard (Dick) G. Case.

                                                                                                    Ruth Reed Cummings, 1972