Ruth Eckstein

Cities and Signs IV, Abstract Expressionist Lithograph by Ruth Eckstein

circa 1975

Ruth Eckstein was born in Nuremberg, Germany on May 11, 1916. As a teenager, she worked in her father’s fabric store and then took an early interest in art. Around 1930, she met George Eckstein, a friend of her brother Gus, who worked in a family toy business. George was active in left-leaning political activities and in 1933, the Nazis arrested him and he spent several months in jail. After his release, he fled to Switzerland and then to Paris. Eckstein joined him there in 1934. She and George lived in Paris for 5 years, where they married and were active members of the German refugee community, working as toy makers producing stuffed dolls. It was in Paris that their first daughter, Margaret, was born. In 1939, fearing a Nazi invasion, George and Ruth left Paris for New York City.