Swimming Pool
1970
The Swimming Pool (1970) is a key early example of Ruttenberg's signature landscape composition.
The painting and its related studies were executed en plain air at The Ruttenbergs' Tinicum Farm. It features Janet's four children and dog, half-submerged in cerulean water. The boundaries between grassy landscape and pool would blend together here, if not for the white picket fence in the upper third. In the 1970s, this imagery may have evoked John Cheever's short story film adaptation The Swimmer (1968) or David Hockney's Swimming Pool paintings, which were exhibited in New York in 1967 and 1969. But when examined in the broader context of Ruttenberg's oeuvre they portend the compositional complexity of two major Central Park paintings, Roller Blades (2006–2013) and Blue Jeans/Condoms (2010-2019).
Blue Jeans / Condoms, 2010–2019, Oil on canvas, with silver leaf, neon light, and video on LED screens, 96 × 180 inches (243.8 × 457.2 cm) Photo: Tom Powel Imaging
Roller Blades, 2006–2013, Oil and gold leaf on canvas, 82 × 180 inches (208.3 × 457.2 cm) Photographed in 2024 by Tom Powel Imaging