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Charles Edwin Ruttan, known professionally as Charles E. Ruttan, (1884–1939) was a Canadian-born painter. He served in the United States Naval Reserve Force as a pilot lieutenant during World War I. Because of his background with painting aerial combat scenes, Ruttan was put in charge of pictorial records of trans-Atlantic flights for the United States Navy. One of his most well-known works is the World War I poster titled "A Wonderful Opportunity for You".

Personal life

Ruttan was born on 21 August 1884, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Thomas David Ruttan (1851-1918) and Martha A. Duetta (1853-1924). He had three siblings: William, Alfred Arthur and a sister.

On 1 June 1905, Ruttan married Della Elvira Brown. They had two children.

Ruttan died on 6 November 1939, in Hollywood.

Career

Ruttan designed advertisements for various products and companies such as Post Toasties, Procter & Gamble and Pompeian Cream. He also illustrated a Cream of Wheat advertisement that was displayed in trolleys and train cars.

Reported on March 11, 1916, Ruttan resigned from the Street Railways Advertising Company in New York City and opened a private art studio. He had been chief artist and manager at Street Railways for many years, but decided to open the studio to "devote his time to promotion of a higher art for commercial purposes".

On June 23, 1916, Ruttan entered the Naval Militia. His ranking in the United States Navy Reserve was lieutenant. Ruttan, a qualified pilot, was temporarily assigned to the U.S.S. Melville, which was a supply and repair ship for seaplanes at Ponta Delgada. Here, Ruttan was designated by the Navy Department as the official artist of the flight. His experience with painting naval aviation scenes on the Western Front secured him the position. His paintings were compiled for the U.S. Navy Department historical archives. They depicted scenes of bombing raids at Zeebrugge, Paris and other locations. In 1918, he was stationed at the U.S. Coastal Air Station at Montauk, New York.

After the war, Ruttan illustrated a series of paintings which depicted the first successful crossing of the Atlantic by a flight of Navy Curtiss NC seaplanes.

Ruttan exhibited his aeronautical paintings for the first time at the Second Pan-American Aeronautic Convention on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He also loaned his paintings to be shown in the club rooms of the Aero Club of America. In 1918, he showed his aerial paintings at the Treasure and Trinket Drive. In the same year, he gave his paintings to the Aviation Committee for them to use in propaganda work for the Treasure and Trinket Fund.

In 1917, Ruttan's World War I poster for the U.S. Navy was released. It showed a man in uniform walking with suitcases in his hands. Behind him is a ship surrounded in yellow and orange light. The poster reads, "A wonderful opportunity for YOU. United States Navy." The message conveyed was that by joining military service, young men were able to travel the world and gain experiences they would not have had before.

In 1919, Ruttan moved to Los Angeles and worked in Hollywood as a painter and artist.

He was a member of the Aero Club of America, of which he was elected a member in 1918. In April the same year, he was elected a member of the Air Service Institute.

References

1. "Charles Edwin Ruttan". Canadian Headstones. 11 December 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
2. ^ "Charles Edwin Ruttan". Ryeland Family Tree. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
3. ^ "Charles Edwin Ruttan Biography". askART. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
4. ^ Smith, Patricia Helaine (12 December 2014). "Charles Edwin Ruttan". Geni. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
5. "Puts Out High Class Advertising". Brick and Clay Record. Vol. 59. Cahners Publishing Company. 1921. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
6. "Lot 78171: Charles Edwin Ruttan". Invaluable. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
7. "Ad Folks' News". Fourth Estate. Fourth Estate Publishing Company. 1916. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
8. "Commercial Artist Opens Studio". American Printer and Lithographer. Vol. 62. Moore Publishing Company. 1916. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
   - "Is That So!". Associated Advertising. Vol. 7. Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. 1916. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
9. "Register of the Naval Militia of the U.S." United States: United States. Division of Naval Militia Affairs. 1910. p. 23. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
10. ^ "Lieutenant Ruttan in Charge of Pictorial Record of Transatlantic Flight". Flying. Flying Association at the office of the Aero Club of America. 1919. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
11. ^ "About the Treasure and Trinket Drive". Flying. Flying Association at the Office of the Aero Club of America. April 1918. p. 253. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
12. Chenoweth (Ret.), Col. H. Avery (2002). Art of War: Eyewitness U.S. Combat Art from the Revolution through the Twentieth Century. New York: Michael Friedman Publishing Group, Inc. p. 108. ISBN 0-7607-4828-4.
13. "Extensive Art Exhibit". Aerial Age Weekly. Vol. 9. Aerial Age Company. 1919. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
14. "For Treasure and Trinket Fund". Flying. Flying Association at the Office of the Aero Club of America. May 1918. p. 348. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
15. "A wonderful opportunity for you". Learn NC. Learn NC. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
16. "The Aero Club of America". Flying. Flying Association at the Office of the Aero Club of America. February 1918. p. 55. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.
17. "Elected Members of the Air Service Institute Since April 1, 1918". Flying. Flying Association at the Office of the Aero Club of America. June 1918. p. 452. Retrieved 23 February 2016 – via Google Books.

External links

• Ruttan painting commissioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Set of 5 aviation paintings by Ruttan
• Photo of Lt. Charles E. Ruttan at Naval History and Heritage Command
• Photo 2 of Lt. Charles E. Ruttan at Naval History and Heritage Command
• Photo 3 of Lt. Charles E. Ruttan at Naval History and Heritage Command

• 1884 births
• 1939 deaths
• World War I artists
• Canadian emigrants to the United States